Honoring Dr. King's Dream for All People

Prof. Bedford Nwabueze Umez

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I welcome all of you to this memorable day of remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I thank Black Heritage Society for hosting this heroic event and for granting me the privilege to address you.

Better still, I am gratified that this occasion is also being used to honor Mr. Nelson Mandela.

I will not dwell on the history of Dr. King and that of Mr. Mandela; they are readily available from various sources, including the Internet. Instead, I will pinpoint some of the lessons humanity has learned from their struggle to liberate Africans from the bondage of racial oppression and bigotry.

We are honoring Dr. King and Mr. Mandela today (and will continue to eternity) because their contributions to mankind captured what our Creator had in mind when He said, in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image:"

It is an image of one world under God; it is an image that rejects, without any trace of doubts, racial bigotry; it is an image of one human race.

Dr. King, born in January 15, 1929, had a dream of a free America where racial oppression and bigotry will no longer exist. He tirelessly pursued that dream until the force(s) against injustic assassinated him in 1968. Today, "de jure" segregation in the US is unconstitutional.

Mr. Mandela, born in July 18, 1918, pursued a similar dream of a free South Africa where racial oppression and bigotry, otherwise called Apartheid, will seize to exist. He pursued that dream with vigor. In 1994, he became the President of South Africa. Today, Apartheid regime is history.

Collectively, both men were fighting to preserve the indisputable ideal that "all men are created equal" and therefore must be treated equally. They were fighting to maintain the ideal of equality of man to man; an ideal of men of good will; an ideal well conceived by God when He made man in his own image.

That ideal was the sum total of Dr. King's dream: that one day, his "four little children," will 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 dream that will remain forever immortal.

The same ideal was echoed by Mr. Mandela during his trial in 1964:

"During my life time, I have dedicated myself to the struggle of African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve, but if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

But here is my question for all of us: Has this dream of Dr. King been realized to the fullest? Has that ideal of equality of man to man come full circle? The simple answer is that today is better than yesterday; as such, there is much work on our part to realize the dream fully. We must not sleep until justice is guaranteed to all!

I thank those who are celebrating this day by emphasizing Dr. King's contributions and accomplishments to humanity. And to those individuals, I say this: the day has dawned in which the wound of yesterday should be cast in oblivion; when old prejudices, old misunderstandings fade and we start living in harmony within this human race.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is only one race, and that race is the human race. The dream must live on!

Happy Dr. King's Day!

*Presented at the Black Heritage Society, George Brown Convention Hall, Houston, Texas, January 15, 2001, in celebration of the 23rd Annual Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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*Note: Dr. Umez is a Professor of Government, Lee College, Baytown, Texas, and University of Phoenix, Houston Campus.  He is the founder of Liberating the African mind, LAM, and Nigerian Leadership Council, NLC. His latest books include, Nigeria: Real Problems, Real Solutions, "Educated" to Feel Inferior, The Tragedy of a Value System in Nigeria: Theories and Solutions, and Your Excellency. These books can be assessed from his web site, www.umez.com or www.lee.edu/~bumez. His contacts are listed below: