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As we observe Black History Month, I am reminded of one of my uncle's most famous quotes. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he declared that he had had a dream. He said: “It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live the true meaning of its creed.”
For many, that creed reflects the same principles upon which this country was built and those enshrined in our founding documents. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream encompasses life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL people. His dream includes equal rights, equality before the law, opportunity and dignity for all Americans as one blood, one human race, regardless of skin color.
In recent history, we saw the American dream rekindled. Under the Trump administration, the Black community was not pandered to, offered handouts, or pressured to adopt pro-abortion and anti-family policies. Instead, the black community experienced advancement, dignity, and new opportunities to dream and succeed in life.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington on August 28, 1963. (Getty Images)
With these America First policies in action, African Americans benefited from this opportunity to make their way in life. Policies such as Opportunity Zones, tax and regulatory cuts, school choice, a secure border, and global stability helped reduce the black unemployment rate.
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As a result of those policies, the black poverty rate reached the lowest levels ever recorded in our country's history, and the median income of black households rose to the highest level ever recorded.
Unfortunately, this progress was interrupted and these trends reversed by the time the Biden administration began. Under President Biden, positive initiatives like school choice and the sanctity of life, religious freedom, and public safety have been pushed out of the public realm.
In its place is the promotion of abortion and a Department of Justice that has been used as a weapon against people of faith. The demonization of political opponents has apparently been sanctioned by the administration, and the black community is worse off for it.
Many of America's leaders have remained silent or abandoned old-fashioned common sense and morality and instead adopted a formula of complacency and negligence. As a result, the problems facing the black community have gotten worse and worse.
Abandoning solutions that work, the current administration has become more interested in things like distributing crack pipes to achieve “racial equity,” stirring the pot of “race baiting” with claims of nefarious motives behind construction locations of overpasses and using the administrative state to push anti-family and anti-life policies in the black community.
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And to compound this unfortunate situation, there have recently been unexpected attacks on my uncle's dream by some members of the conservative movement. As a result of these unfounded claims, many minds are reeling from this effort to refute the dream.
My heart breaks for the state of America. However, my faith, hope and love for our merciful God remains. As Christians, we are called to always forgive and always repent. There is a beautiful scripture in the book of John: “You who are without sin, cast the first stone.” Let us not ignore the beam in our eyes and pray that this throwing of stones against my uncle stops.
More than 60 years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its people of color a bad check, a check that has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'” '”. He also said he “refused to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
Dexter Scott King during an awards dinner at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Moses Robinson/WireImage)
It's time to redeposit the check. We must refuse to believe that these vaults of opportunity are empty. Although current policies in Washington are sending bad checks to the Black community once again, we have seen the gains that can be made when our leaders put America First policies into practice.
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This Black History Month, I also want to mention the passing of my dear cousin, Dexter Scott King. He was a blessing and will truly be missed. I would also like to honor one of my favorite grandmothers. “Big Mama King” was a talented musician, civil rights leader, and woman of faith, and we would all do better to learn from her example.
Last year also took from us a dear friend, Bishop Dean Nelson, whose joy for life and commitment to improving our country were shining examples for us all.
The examples of these friends and leaders also offer another opportunity to remind us that things do not have to continue changing as they currently are. Just a few years ago we saw the progress that could be made if we enact the kind of policies that work.
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This year, it is time again to demand life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from our elected officials and protection for life from the womb to the grave and beyond. The progress we have already made is at the very core of my uncle's dream; Let's rekindle that spark today.
The dream is not dead; It is a dream we can achieve once again, in every generation and decade, on every platform, if we will only occupy our hearts and minds with prayer, trust in God, and demand change from our political leaders in Washington and across the country.
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