I have a dream

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

It is a noble dream, and one I want to see within my lifetime. There is no reason why we can’t live in an open and free society without being shackled by our skin color. “Red and yellow, black and white, they’re all precious in His sight,” is how the old children’s’ song goes, highlighting how our skin color shouldn’t matter in our relationships and interactions with those of different racial background. This is the goal of King, but I don’t think we’ll achieve it with policies such as Affirmative Action and race-based Hate Crime legislation in the books.

King wanted people to be judged based upon their merit and quality of work, and not by any special “bonus” because they are a minority. Affirmative action did a lot to quickly integrate the whites and blacks together in the workplace and in schools, but now qualified individuals get passed up because of self-imposed quotas, fearing the risk of negative reputations if their workforce doesn’t match the demographics of the nearby communities. Take the National Football League (NFL) as an example. They have the “Rooney Rule” on their books, where they must interview at least one minority for head coaching and football operations positions. It doesn’t matter if they’ve already decided on the hire ahead of time, making this minority a “token” interview rather than a serious candidate. Is that what King wanted? Of course not.

As far as hate crimes go, what is the point of having a two-tiered punishment scale just because the person happens to be a different race? Is it less of a crime if the two persons involved are of the same race? What is the difference between a white man killing a black man (or vice versa) and a white man killing another white man? The end result is someone dying. The punishment should be the same, since the law is suppose to be blind (hence the statue of Lady Justice holding a scale while wearing a blindfold).

These examples above just continue to the division between the races rather than bringing them together. Of course we will never reach a point where the two races are completely blind to the color of their skins (you will still have racist groups similar to the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers running around), but we will get to the point where organizations such as the NAACP cease to be relevant. Some of this will come about as the races continue to blend together through marriage and procreation, but the majority of the change will come from maturity.

I have a dream, Dr. King. I have a dream of a color-blind society before my life ends. My hope is that those who profess to act on your behalf share that dream (no matter their racial background).