MLK, Jr. Was Not Colorblind

"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., speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, 1963.

This excerpt from King’s remarkable I Have a Dream speech is among the most familiar and most infuriatingly and cynically appropriated quotes in American history.   

One needn’t be an astute analyst of text to note that his speech and that specific quote were aspirational.  He had a dream, not a delusion.  Less than five years later King was assassinated by James Earl Ray, an avowed racist and volunteer campaigner for George Wallace.  It seems reasonable to conclude that Ray judged King by the color of his skin, not the content of his character.

King spoke these words on that day before declaring the dream he had for his children:

“But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.”

And: 

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.”

My blood boils when white people deny their bigotry by claiming to be colorblind.  When they object to affirmative action by calling it “reverse racism.”  When white people chant All Lives Matter! as rebuttal to the Black Lives Matter movement.  When they resist any and all efforts to address the inarguable facts of systemic racism.  I could go on.  Or when any white person says, “I don’t see color,” and “I have Black friends,” two sentiments often residing in the same person, totally missing the impossibility of both being true.

Today, on the anniversary of King’s birth, I suggest a different way of interpreting those words.   Let us ask that white people not be judged on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.  

Let us dream that one day the ability to own a home in America is not significantly based on being white.  That white boys will be stopped, frisked and profiled as often as Black boys, by police who only judge by content of character.  That one day, white job applicants will be judged only by the content of their resume, rather than by employers who eliminate Black applicants by screening for “Black-sounding” names.  That white folks will no longer accumulate wealth at seven times the rate of Black folks.  

Let us dream of a day when being white no longer guarantees a shorter jail sentence for an identical crime.  Of a day when being white no longer predicts a four times greater possibility of promotion to a senior corporate leadership position.  Let’s dream of the day when being white makes it equally possible to be gunned down by police in America.

On this day, in honor of Dr. King, let us not look at seditious,Republican members of the House of Representatives and judge them on the color of their white skin.  Let us assess the content of their character.   Let us not judge insurrectionists by the color of their skin, but by their vile efforts to overthrow our democracy.

I have a dream that my three white grandchildren can live in a nation where they acknowledge their own privilege and are judged by their efforts to address the racism that still contradicts the American promise.  A nation where they are not blind to color, but are acutely aware that they should not enjoy advantage because they are white.  

A nation where the content of their character will be judged by what they do to bring about what Martin Luther King, Jr. could only dream of for his children - a nation that finally makes good that promissory note.