“Why Are We Still Dreaming and Waiting?”

Recently I have been “seriously” reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. book “Why We Can’t Wait” which Dr. King wrote in the early sixties, and in the beginning it says: “To my children- Yolanda-Martin III- Dexter- Bernice for whom I dream that one day soon they will no longer be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Wow! Here we are 2018 which is 55 years since this book’s copyright and we people of color are still being judged by the color of our skin! We’re still “Separate and Unequal.” But why? Because laws are written on paper but they are not activated in the hearts of those that created those laws.

In the NAACP’s Winter 2018 “The Crisis” magazine there is an article “Still Separate and Unequal” By Mary Frances Berry and in that article she asks “Fifty years after the Kerner Commission report, is our nation still moving toward two societies- one White and one other?” Stop and take a moment to very “Seriously” think about her question and then ask yourself that same question. In that article it says “the Kerner Commission report’s depiction of the many persistent problems Blacks faced in 1967 remains accurate 50 years later.”

Wow! To that I say “that’s a very sad indictment on the United States of America.”

Back in 1963 when Dr. King said, “Why We Can’t Wait” it seems that we’re still waiting and dreaming. Why? In a country that professes to be so largely Christian how and why is this madness of “Racism” still able to exist. Jesus didn’t request that we love one another. He commanded us to do so. In Dr. King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963 he says, “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ‘Wait.’” To that I say, here we are in 2018 and we’re still waiting. “Why? Why? Why?” When are we going to wake up and stop allowing ourselves to be continuously separated and divided? This question is being asked of “All!”

Take a minute and ask yourselves this question: “When are we going to truly wake up? How long are we going to allow ourselves to continue to be separated and divided for whether we admit it or not we are “All” affected by this madness in one way or the other. We are still “Separate and Unequal,” so what are we going to do about that?

What are we going to do about “Over-Policing,” “Mass Incarceration,” “Recidivism,” “Poverty” and all of the other unjust things that are most definitely destroying our communities? Right here at the Orange County Board of Elections presently there are no African-Americans working in that office. Why Not? This is just one example of “Racism” in our own backyard and what are we going to do about that? This is a perfect example of why we must “Wake Up.”

Dr. King cited 55 years ago the reasons “Why We Can’t Wait” but here we are still waiting and dreaming. Why? It’s time to “Wake Up” striving together, turning his dream into our reality.
“If Not, Why Not?”

This is “Lillie’s Point Of View” and I’m just having my say!

* Community Bulletin: 4/25/18 at 7PM-Police Community Relations Review Board Meeting at: Karpeles Museum, 94 Broadway, in Newburgh, NY.
* 4/26/18 (7-9PM) Public Workshop #1 City of Newburgh Vision Plan @ Newburgh Free Library 124 Grand St., Newburgh, NY.