Martin Luther King Jr Wouldn’t Be Surprised

Sadly, I don’t think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (or any other Black American) would be at all surprised to witness the backlash that occurred when our nation elected–twice–the first black American President Barack Obama.

 

Only equality-minded white people seem surprised.

 

I sure was.

 

I remember crying when Barack Obama was elected President (both times). I felt relieved that our long national racist nightmare appeared to be coming to an end. I thought, “WOW! How times have changed. I never expected this in my lifetime…” even though I worked my tail off to help “make it so.”

 

You see, my first exposure to “race relations” as a kid of the fifties was to witness, horrified, as white southern law enforcement officers turned fire hoses and German Shepherds loose on black people for protesting against racism and poverty-level wages.

 

At first, I thought I was watching scenes of violence in some other backward country. When I asked Mom which country this outrage was occurring in, she said, “Our country, in the south.”

 

But hell, something shitty was happening  to black people in the north, too.  The Ku Klux Klan was everywhere, burning crosses and terrorizing black citizens. Hooded racists were having a field day.

 

But that all seemed to be changing as the years passed. The national legislature and the Kennedys and LBJ started the ball rolling toward — if not love, at least tolerance and equity.

 

Because I was not (am not) black, I didn’t realize how much remained to be done.

 

But no black American held the same illusion, or ever has.

 

When Barack Obama became President, the ugly came out in the halls of Congress and everywhere else  white supremacy still lives.

 

I was appalled.

 

And now we have a POS (short for POTUS, but POS suits my purposes here) who believes in white supremacy and fans the flames of racism and other isms that are diametrically opposed to the way American citizens deserve to be treated.

 

I’m sure Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t be at all surprised.  But he’d keep on loving, keep on heading for that bright day when people would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

 

I don’t expect to live to see that day. But I do expect to live that way: judging people by the content of their character.

 

And I’m sad to say that the present administration, to the last man and woman, have not earned my respect. The content of their character utterly appalls me.