Equality is Everyone's Responsibility

(Danville, California)

 

    Like many Americans, I am reflecting on the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. forty years ago today. I remember it well. Most of my brothers and sisters were having dinner with my mom at the time, and we saw the news bulletin on TV. My mom immediately made us kneel down on the kitchen floor and say a prayer.

 

    When we sat back at the table, one of my younger sisters asked my mom, "Who is going to be King of the Negroes now?" She was only six and thought "King" was his title, not just his name. It was an easy and innocent mistake for a small child to make. After all, Dr. King was one of only a few black Americans who regularly made the news and was regularly on TV. He was the leader. He was a king in many respects.

    

    The thing I liked most about King is that his speeches focused on the shared responsibility of achieving equality in this country. It was not just something blacks needed to lobby and work for; it was something the white power structure in this country also had to work to change. It wasn't just for Democrats; it was for Republicans too. It wouldn't just be liberating for black men; it would be empowering for women too. It was a powerful message, because it had to prevail from the pulpit, as well as the public square. For it to succeed, it needed church and state to work hand in hand.

 

    Recently, a friend told what, I think, is a very sad story about where we are in terms of creating equal opportunity in this country. He was recently on a date with a woman who expressed her abhorrence that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a Republican. "She is a disgrace to women and her race. How dare she be a Republican?"

 

    I also had a teacher this year who expressed shock when a white student mentioned that her daughter's hero was Secretary Rice. He asked me later, "How could her mother allow that?"

 

    What?????????

 

    I was shocked at both statements. For us to be truly free and equal in this nation, we must have the option of choosing whichever politics we want. I as a white male am free to vote for someone as liberal as Ted Kennedy for President or for someone as conservative as Ronald Reagan without recrimination. So why should my black counterparts be denied the same freedom? There is an assumption in this country that all blacks should be Democrats. How fair and equal is that?

 

    I mention this because of all the buzz over Sen. Barack Obama possibly becoming the nation's first biracial, African American President. He could not have done it without two key people. One is Dr. King. The other is Colin Powell. Every time I hear a TV commentator this year mention Obama as the first viable black candidate for president, I cringe. Is the nation's memory that short?

 

    In 1996, Powell was the leading candidate for the Republican nomination and led in most polls, which showed him not only winning the GOP nomination, but defeating President Clinton for reelection. The polls indicated many Democrats and independents would cross over and vote for him. But Powell, under great pressure from his wife, who feared his assassination, eventually chose not to run.

 

    So King created the opportunity, but Powell created the viability. If you are black and you are qualified and you can inspire the populace, you can become President.
That may very well be the path that Obama is on this year.

 

    African Americans should feel welcome in both parties, if that's where their political beliefs take them. Women have probably advanced more than any other group these past forty years because they are very well represented in both major parties. They can play "both sides against the middle." The same goes for Latinos, who are now the nation's largest minority group. Both parties need their votes, so neither party can ignore them.

 

    The promise of this nation and the equality and opportunity it offers belong to all of us. We have a lot of people from many persuasions and ethnicities to thank for it, from Washington, to Lincoln, to King and beyond.

 

    I am heading towards the "City of Brotherly Love" (Philadelphia) in just over two weeks, to cover the Pennsylvania primary. Check in often at www.MarkCurtisMedia.blogspot.com

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