Is The Dream dead?

I have lived in Memphis or the surrounding area almost all my life. I have lived among, worked with, and have friends who are black. I’ve come in less-than-friendly contact with hundreds, if not more, of blacks. There are some fine, fine black people in and around this community. But 40 years after Martin Luther King was shot, brining infamy to our fair city, I have come to the conclusion that The Dream IS Dead. Not only that, blacks are still slaves, but just to a different master. Many have escaped, but most remain.

The slavemaster of the 21st century is the victim culture. It’s the senseless black crime that runs rampant through big cities. It’s the disrespect for life, and the thug culture that glamorizes drugs, degrades women, puts the almighty dollar on a pedestal but ignores and even mocks the principles on which King preached. But most of all it is the acceptance of those cultures that is the real master.

The picketers in the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis wore signs which said “I AM A MAN” They simply wanted to be recognized as a human being…They had the courage to stand up and say “I am a man, and I have the right to have the same opportunity of standing tall as anyone else in this country”…and they were right.

In 2008, if a black man or woman stands up, becomes successful and rises above the ‘victim’ mentality, he or she is called an Uncle Tom, a sellout, or even worse. I recall reading the vile postings on some blogs about Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Bill Cosby…called sell-out and much, much worse simply because they fought their way to the top, and in the case of Cosby because he dared to suggest that some of the black man’s plight just might be of his own making.

Martin Luther King’s dream has been hijacked and turned into a nightmare by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. As long as men like these two can continue to breed hate and racism and the sense that black people are owed a free ride by society, we will never be a united nation. Never.

The victimhood peddlers would have you believe that racism is as alive and well in 2008 among whites as it was in 1968. To hate another simply because of his skin color is wrong, and to be sure there are still those who practice that on both sides. But I submit to you today that there are more “pure” racists in black America than in white America. I’ve been accused many, many times on this blog of being racist. My reply as always is that I cannot be racist because I do not dislike all blacks. That simple logic usually falls on deaf ears, but it is truth.

But I am tired of the same excuses, the same accusations, and the same charlatans peddling the same divisive victim scam, the same lies, and the same general belief that everything bad that happens to a black is the white man’s fault. I’ve risked my life in the dark of night for people who turn around and call me a ‘cracker pig’ one too many times. The ones that believe the victim scam are the problem, but part of the scam is convincing them that it’s NEVER their fault.

Another cop friend of mine and I were talking about this very thing last night. We both tried to think of a single time that a black man was arrested in Memphis for a high profile crime that the black community (a) applauded the arrest, or (b) did not accuse the police of racism.

The federal government and the civil rights acts have legislated equal opportunity. Memphis spends more per child than any other school system in the state. Yet the dropout rate is huge. We can legislate the opportunity. We can’t make you take it. That’s your job.

The saddest part of all is that there are a lot of good black families in this town. They know the black community has a problem with crime, with lack of parental responsibility, the lack of fathers in the home, the lack of good roles models. They know all that. But just look what happens if they stand up and speak out. There’s black cop I know. We have a lot of chats late at night when things are slow. She’s about the same age as me, and we have the same political views. She gets angry when she sees the thugs, the poverty, the fatherless children. She sees an endless cycle.

She says she longs to stand up and say “Look at me! I made it out of the cycle. So can you”. But then she shakes her head and says “They are too busy selling dope to even stay in school”

Are there white racists still around? Oh, yes. But I challenge some of the blacks in this town to ask yourself an honest question. The next time a white woman crosses the street to avoid passing you on the sidewalk, ask yourself if it’s racism, or just the fact that black crime is rampant on the streets of Memphis? The fact is it could be either one, couldn’t it?

The black population as a whole can’t change it if it’s the first one. But they sure could change the second one.

So, if MLK’s Dream isn’t dead, it’s on life support. I can’t change that. I’m the wrong color. I can help, but I’m not the one who has to take the first step.