I recently heard someone say that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream became a reality when Barak Obama became President of the United States of America. I do not think that is true.
President Obama has not used his office as a bully pulpit, except when he talked about
remembering what it felt like to be a young Afro-American, and having to always look over your shoulder and be aware where you were and what was going on, and what might happen, even though you were not doing anything wrong.
I think, in the last couple of years, the recognition that this is still an issue for Afro-American males has risen. High profile cases have made this obvious: The killing of Trayvon Martin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin The shooting of Michael Brown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ferguson_unrest. The death of Eric Garner http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/20/justice/ny-chokehold-death/index.html
These are just a few examples of incidents involving Afro-American men who are in situations that may have been handled differently, had their race been different. It is a reality. A sad but true reality.
I think that Martin Luther King's dream will become a reality when these incidents are treated fairly, openly, transparently, and without questionable circumstances that might be colored by race.
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