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On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his most famous speech which we know as the "I Have a Dream" speech.
His speech said in part:
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
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.
I have a dream today!
He had a dream that one day "slaves and slave owners would sit together in peace."
This, however, is not the "Dream" the progressive left would have us see and hear, nor is it the "dream" our children will be taught in public school.
Martin Luther King's own niece has attempted to clarify her uncle's message, pointing out that he was not even a member of the Democratic Party because of their history of racism and pro-slavery actions.
But it is former U.S. Rep. Allen West, an African American himself, who brings the most clarity to the revision of King's dream.
To be sure, I have my concerns about the current Republican Party's seeming reluctance to stand firm of the most important social (moral) issues of our times---at least until pressured publicly.
Dr. Alveda C. King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., is absolutely certain he was a registered Republican. So was his father Martin Luther King, Sr., her grandfather.
She and others point out that the Republican Party has been since its founding in 1854, anti-slavery, championing freedom and civil rights for blacks.
The Democratic Party, she and others say, is the Party of the four "S's"---Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism.
Even in more recent times the far left ideology, primarily seeded in the Democratic Party, has manifested itself.
When the 1960 Civil Rights Act was signed by President Eisenhower, it was only after it had been through a five-day, five-hour filibuster by Democrats in the Senate to stop it. These senators included Lyndon Johnson.
When the 1964 Civil Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson, it had gone through a 14-hour filibuster by former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd. Nay votes from 22 other Democrat senators also failed to stop it. One of those senators was Al Gore, Sr., father of the “Internet inventor,” champion of global warming and Nobel Prize winner, Al Gore, Jr.
When the act made it to President Johnson’s desk, it was a matter of political expediency for him and the Democrats for him to sign it.
My friend David Barton has written extensively on this subject in his book "Setting The Record Straight: American History In Black and White."
Perhaps former U.S. Representative Allen West, an African American spoke most clearly to the issue of redefining MLK's Dream speech this past August, on the 50th anniversary of the speech.
West wrote the following for U.S. News and World Report:
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. Dr. King delivered that monumental speech to ensure that the words of Thomas Jefferson, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal," lived up to their meaning, just as Lincoln sought to do. It is therefore quite appropriate that the monuments to these three astute Americans are within eyeshot of each other.
However, where have we come in these 50 years and what is the legacy of that speech today?
Dr. King postulated that, "the Negro is still 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."
We have fought to break the chains of physical bondage, but today the chains of economic bondage are even worse. This is not about social justice but about ensuring that the economic opportunities of America can resurrect small business entrepreneurship in the black community. Our economic, tax, and regulatory policies must promote free market growth, investment, innovation and ingenuity to enable self-reliance.
West quotes MLK, "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back 'insufficient funds'."
West says our government is issuing free cell phones, benefit cards (food stamps) and even recruiting for enrollment in these programs.
The far left progressive movement claim they are working to advance the minority communities, but in fact their policies discriminate against any possibility of economic advancement.
The far left has created an industry of poverty in which those who lead, claiming to be advocates for the poor and disadvantaged, are advancing only their own interests and prosperity.
And while extolling the virtue of King's message, are actually revising it to support the expansion of their poverty and abortion industry.
West says we are witnessing a complete breakdown and collapse of what was the foundational strength of the black community---the family.
He lays much blame at the feet of secular progressives and their far left policies.
West says the black community would be 36% greater if progressives would stop targeting black neighborhoods with abortion and abortion clinics.
He says, "This horror is not part of King's dream."
"The hypocrisy of it all," he says, "is that liberal progressive Democrats support the choice of women to kill black babies, but reject the choice of the same woman or parents, to seek a quality education for black children."
He says progressives are killing opportunities by killing school voucher programs, pointing directly at the Obama administration, reminding us that the power elites in this administration have enrolled their children in the elite Sidwell Friends School in DC while denying others the same opportunity.
West says Dr. King advocated we evaluate the content of one's character. However, he says, America elected a president in 2008 and again in 2012 on the color of his skin---not his character.
He concludes, "Perhaps that is the lesson learned from the legacy of Dr. King's speech: Character Matters."
Be Vigilant. BE Informed. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Pro-Active. Be Blessed.