The dream is not finished
Monday night Donaldsonville’s Roy Quezaire spoke in Gonzales in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and he opened and closed with an excerpt from Robert Frost that says, “The road is long, narrow and steep. The forest is dark and ever so deep, but we've got many miles to go before we sleep. Many, many miles to go before we sleep.”
It’s easy to understand why Quezaire would use such words to open a speech about the legacy of Dr. King – the man known for having a dream. And with it, it shows that even today there is a long way to go before we reach the crest of what Dr. King dreamed of for this nation and this world. Clearly, the dream is not finished.
Dr. King had a dream that America would truly apply its dream where it says all men are created equal and all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It’s no secret that has yet to be accomplished. Our founding fathers came with high expectations and good intentions for this country. However, the American Dream was misused and abused. Then came Dr. King, the moral leader of the world, with his dream of equality of life – not just for African Americans, but for all.
However the dream goes unfinished. It goes unfinished because of incidents like we saw last year when a police officer gunned down an unarmed teenager. Or when another police officer choked one to death, which is a prohibited maneuver to subdue a suspect. It’s not just that two men died at the hands of law enforcement, it’s that just wasn’t served equally unto them.
It’s no secret the statistics of black-on-black crimes is absurd. How can we say we the dream is finished when we can’t understand eliminating that is part of the dream? Dr. King went to Selma, Alabama to give us equal voting rights, and if you look at the voter participation numbers of today, you’ll see we don’t appreciate the fact of those that were beaten, bruised and murdered for that right? How can we say we respect the dream? How can we say the dream is finished?
The dream isn’t just finished because Dr. King died and schools, businesses, and other entities were desegregated, and voting rights were free among all. The dream didn’t just stop there.
The dream continues until the day all things are equal, but even more than that we appreciate and participate in the rights we have. We can’t cry foul, and when the referee blows the whistle to shoot the free throws we don’t shoot to score.
You fight for change, accept the change, and we must live the change. Until then, just know the dream is not finished. Like Quezaire, I’ll use Frost again to send the message, “The road is long, narrow and steep. The forest is dark and ever so deep, but we've got many miles to go before we sleep. Many, many miles to go before we sleep.
Blessings