How fitting would it have been if Dr. King were on hand to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States?
Often, I wonder how America and the world would be different if an assassin's bullet had not transported Dr. King into martyrdom almost 41 years ago.
What if … ?
He was a prophet of peace. Would we be a more peaceable nation? Would at least some of the wars we have fought been resolved at diplomatic tables instead of on battlefields?
He was a preacher of potential. Would he have helped us tranform our national values, so that more of our children grow up to live lives of productivity and promise?
He cared for the downtrodden, the folks Jesus called "the least of these." Would he have directed us to eliminate inbred, incipient injustice and, perhaps even worse, smug blindness to the needs of others?
He was a great talker, a negotiator able to bring people together. Would we have developed a culture of collaboration instead of a pit of partisanship? Would he have taught our political and business and religious leaders to work together for the common good?
On a week set aside to celebrate Dr. King's birthday and inaugurate Barack Obama, it's easy to get lost in the reverie of his dream. This week, it's inviting to ask "What if … ?" he had lived until now.
Melancholy nightmare
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Of course, the realist (or is it the cynic?) in me realizes the grinding forces would have ground on Martin Luther King. We live in a no-secret world, and they would have exploited his personal weaknesses to still his voice. Selfishness and greed are strong in any age, and they would have called us to duck his lofty prose and aim for lower goals. Human nature despises "the other," and so racism and classism would have remained strong, perhaps sufficient to blunt the power of his persuasion.
I slap myself awake from this melancholy nightmare to reconsider his dream and think about a day he would have adored. Because of Martin, Barack ascended to the highest office in the land, the leadership of the free world.
"This is something"
Whether you believe in Barack Obama or not. Whether you agree with his positions. Whether you think he is best to lead our woebegone land. Those are beside the point this week. An African-American becomes president of the United States.
We face terrible crises. We suffer our failures and shortcomings. But surely this is something. This is a moment of pride to think we have elected a person of color to lead us. For one Election Day, for one season at least, we looked past the color of his skin to choose him. Now, the content of his character will determine if we made the right decision.
The Dream lives on
So, I think of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech and wonder if he would say that dream has been fulfilled.
Do "little black boys and black girls … join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers"? Have we yet arrived at "an oasis of freedom and justice"? Do the offspring of slaves and slave owners "sit down together at the table of brotherhood"?
Has that day dawned, "when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"?
We are closer to that dream. It has been fulfilled in part, but not in whole. We have made progress. We have work yet to do.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.