NOGO Street Beat Blogger Editorial.

This Tuesday, January 15, 2013 marked what would have been the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's 84th birthday.   While he may be gone, Dr. King's legacy lives on in his words both written(Letters from Birmingham Jail) and spoken (the I Have a Dream Speech & the I've been to the Mountain Top speech).  He lives on as an example today because of his courageous nonviolent actions and his faith in American Democracy for all of it's peoples.


The 3rd Monday of January ( 1/21/2013) is designated as a federal holiday to honor this man's life and legacy.  It is this blogger's belief that without the sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. life as we know it in America would not exist.  He legacy lives on in ever one who lives,  breathes and recognizes freedom and equality for all men and women.

 Indeed, America has come a long way.  We still have a ways to go. 

Right now, unemployment in the black community is the highest of any race  in this country.  Crime and poverty are at an all time high.  Every time I turn on the news I hear of another murder.  Black on black crime is still in some areas at an all time high and a young black male is still considered very blessed to reach the age of 25.

Yes we still have many mountains to climb, and I mean that literally.  I won't speculate on how Martin Luther King would feel or what he would say if he were still alive.  We lost a great leader and motivator in Dr. King, but he earned his rest.

It is time for us as a people to accept the responsibility for our lives ourselves.  We not only can do better than this, we as African Americans are better than this.  But, we have to believe that we are and want it for ourselves.

 We have to become the leaders, the teachers, the motivators, the innovators, the Martin Luther King's that we are waiting for in our individual lives.  We have to start looking at life differently.
African Americans make up less that 50% of this countries populace.  How can we be responsible for most of the crime that happens on the nightly news? 

During the Civil Rights Era, it was us against injustice, and now sometimes it is like it is just us against ourselves.    Our thinking, and our living has got to change.  IT doesn't matter worth a damn who is President of the United States, if we still have the same problems we had ten years ago.  Having a black president was not the focus and point of the dream.  If it was then, we need to go back to sleep.

MLK's dream was simple:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Let us all honor him in memory as well as in action.   Look first to God and then to ourselves for the solution.  PEACE.