|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
King's Dream Still Unrealized
| Article
# : |
10906 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1993 |
2,477 Words |
| Author
: |
James L. Robinson
James L. Robinson is an African-American political scientist
who has taught at Rutgers University and published articles in
Phylon, Journalism Quarterly, Transaction, and the Western
Journal of Black Studies. |
Martin Luther King led a very successful civil rights revolution in America during the 1950s and '60s. his protest marches were designed to force a reluctant federal government into action through mobilizing public opinion. In large part these tactics succeeded because the moral issues were so clear. But the very success of the civil rights movement in mobilizing government to end de jure segregation has led many African Americans to believe government can solve all their problems.
This is an erroneous assumption but not surprising in light of how African Americans have historically viewed government. It was government, after all, that freed the slaves. Unlike other ethnic groups that emigrated to America to escape repressive government, African Americans were actually liberated by the federal government.
This tradition of seeing government as a special force of good for African Americans has been largely correct. Government actions ended slavery, legal segregation, and de facto voting discrimination in the South. When the issues were slavery and legal segregation, the need for governmental assistance was obviously necessary.
This dependence upon government to solve the problems of African Americans has, however, led to a certain dependency of its own. Government action, while liberating blacks in one sense, has shackled them in another sense. The very dependence upon government action has, it appears, led too many African Americans to depend less on their own actions.
Dependency usually creates a feeling of powerlessness, and with this powerlessness comes low self-esteem. Building strong self-esteem was what Martin Luther King's philosophy of direct action most desperately tried to accomplish among African Americans. Self-esteem comes from feelings of self-worth, and self-worth is a by-product of independence and personal power. The civil rights movement, however, was mainly aimed at ending legal segregation, not necessarily at creating entrepreneurship, self-reliance, or economic independence. Once legal segregation ended, the movement lost momentum.
A COMMUNITY DIVIDED
What would Dr. King think about the state of black America today? First of all, he would see two black Americas: one prospering and middle class, and the other worse off than during the civil rights struggle. Truly, for African Americans in 1993, it could
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
