By Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman
It will be 40 years this year that an assassin’s bullet killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.
I was 22 years old that fateful day -- April 4, 1968 -- and I will never forget the moment when the bad news came. I was at a girlfriend’s home in Orange and we watched the news with tears in our eyes.
The next day, I went to work at what was my first significant job out of college, working as a senior field representative for the state Division of Civil Rights. My responsibility at the time was to investigate instances of discrimination involving housing and public accommodations – instances of service refusals like the Reverend King experienced in 1960 when he was arrested for seeking seating at an Atlanta restaurant.
I remember looking at my work that day with renewed pride and purpose, but weeping over the gnawing question that I could not shake out of my mind: “Why would anyone want to kill that nice man?”
In the black community at that time – especially among young people – there was a sense that the Reverend King was too passive. He was decidedly non-militant, an ardent preacher of non-violence.
With the clarity that comes with time, I now suspect that is what made him so powerful, but also so dangerous in the eyes of people who resisted change, understanding, and social progress. The tears have gone, but the hurt remains over the thoughts of what might have been if not for that solitary fatal bullet 40 years ago.
If the course of human events had been different and the Reverend King could still be with us this year, he would be 79. On each anniversary of his birthday, I can’t help but wonder how much different the world would be if Dr. King had been spared from martyrdom. Would we not be an even greater nation for the experience? I guess that is a dream of its own.
The unmistakable fact is that America is all the better for once having had the likes of the Reverend King as one of its crusading citizens -- a man who put his life on the line for the sake of promoting justice, equality and human harmony.
His imprints of positive change surround us and engulf us in both subtle and profound ways. This year alone, an African-American and a woman are both leading contenders for president. Until earlier this month, a man with a Hispanic lineage also was making a serious bid for his party’s presidential nomination. None of this could have been imagined four decades ago.
King’s effects are not just an anecdotal, they also are quantitative. A poll released last year demonstrates just how far this nation has come since King’s death. The survey, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, shows that the population as a whole has become more tolerant on racial issues, particularly among younger Americans.
The Pew Center survey found that nearly half -- 49 percent -- of young whites between the ages of 18 and 25 completely rejected the notion that they “don’t have much in common with people of other races.” This is a marked improvement over the late 1980s, when only 24 percent rejected the notion they didn’t have much in common with people of other races.
The shift in acceptance among young whites is a direct result of the increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society that has emerged since the days of the civil rights movement. I submit that this attitudinal metamorphosis could not have occurred had it not been for Dr. King, his noble vision, and his commitment to non-violent confrontation.
But for all our progress, significant vestiges of intolerance remain in our country and our state. The Jena Six court case last year in Louisiana is a reminder of how racially charged incidents still occur in this country. Closer to home, the carving of a swastika into a Mercer County corn field last fall showed how hate can be just a stone’s throw away from our very own homes.
The same positive Pew Center poll indicating changing attitudes about race among Americans still found that an alarming 68 percent of blacks say they encounter racial discrimination today when applying for jobs, buying a home, renting an apartment, applying for college and shopping or dining out.
Barriers have been broken, but we still have a way to go. Dr. King’s struggle against injustice and rights-denied marches on.
As the nation commemorates Black History Month this February, all Americans should recognize that we still are short of achieving Reverend King’s courageous vision for a better future.
It’s not enough to just hold back tears. We must reach down and resolve to dedicate ourselves all the more to the mission of turning Dr. King’s valiant dream into reality.
Note: Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman is the Assembly Majority Leader. She represents the 15th Legislative District in Mercer County. She is the highest ranking African American elected official in state government.
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