Martin Luther King’s disappointment in the American dream

Illustration by Brianna Johnson

The Emancipation Proclamation, executed by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, was signed more than 160 years ago, declaring freedom for all African Holocaust enslaved victims. Black Americans are now able to celebrate the freedom of their enslaved ancestry and still be upset about it.

The progression of the times has shown Black Americans that becoming trendsetters, educators, athletes, and entrepreneurs isn’t enough to end the disparities and systemic bias set up against them for more than a century.

As Black culture continues to celebrate Blackness while bringing awareness to disproportionate laws and rulings presented by Uncle Sam, peace still rings deep within the hearts of Black and Brown communities. They continuously uplift one another, especially those who have fallen victim to harrowing acts instilled in policing Black people.

Say their names: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daunte Wright…

Black history is a part of the past, present, and future of America’s history and, respectfully, an ingenious motherland, if you will. It’s important to remember leaders of America sought peace against odds at a time that cruelly despised Negro people. Despite the aggression, threats, and multiple assassination attempts, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pressed onward for a peaceful march on Aug. 28, 1963, inspiring millions with his vision of America:

“…The colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense, we have come to our Nation’s Capital to cash a check. 

When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked insufficient funds. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. 

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. [...] I have a dream today.”

Women and LGBTQ+ married the culture with their dedication standing alongside Black Americans against injustices, inequality, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation issues, and oppression; it is this spirit that helps move Black America forward.

King’s dream is the resilience that has continued to be carried by women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man and civil rights strategist, organized the March on Washington. That influence has impacted activists like Marsha P. Johnson, who, in the early 80s, advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and protested against the inequities in America.

Without community impact and leaders like Rustin, where would the culture be? I dare not think about it. Despite the diaspora of African roots, Black culture continues to lead mainstream culture. King delivered this enriching sermon at the Lincoln Memorial in front of about 250,000 people. He was said to have been inspired by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, who said:

“The greatest power in the world is that of the Soul. Peace is its highest expression. To attain peace, first we must acquire greater mastery over ourselves. We secure then an atmosphere of perfect peace, calm, and goodwill that protects and fortifies ourselves and blesses others around us.”

Although the generations vary in temperaments, the sentiment should be sensitive to one another’s Black identity and struggle in America. However, even the young generation of Black people have gotten comfortable, allowing the use of street vernacular or racial slurs by non-Black people in order to fit in with Black culture, which is almost equivalent to Anti-Blackness.

According to a thesis by Tamara Petrov, a communications graduate student at Suffolk University, the use of Black vernacular is a desire to appropriate Black masculinity in an attempt to recreate a “tough guy” persona, something that is correlated with Black men.

Of course, Black Americans have been put in an awkward conundrum coming off the heels of enslavement, dispelled voices, home displacement, and inebriated pitfalls. Alcoholism in Black communities brought on by Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is trauma passed down generationally, unlike Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

If Black Americans are suffering, then America is suffering, and it is incumbent on the United States of America to formally rectify with the descendants of the enslaved people. As stated by the National African American Reparations Commission, applying pressure for change has “enriched those at the helm of capital and finance and created opportunities and a sense of privilege for Europeans of every socio-economic strata.”