History was made when Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States. But has Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream been achieved? To kick off Black History Month, UNM’s Africana Studies presented “From Civil Rights Activism to the Election of Obama: Has the Dream Been Fulfilled?”
The panel discussion surveyed issues within the African-American community and the significance of Obama’s election.
Dick Gregory, civil rights activist and comedian, compared the intensity he felt in Washington, D.C. during Obama’s inauguration to that of the Civil Rights Movement.
“There was an energy that had nothing to do with someone being sworn in,” he said. “I was there; it was bigger than Obama. We, in the Civil Rights Movement didn’t even know what it was, that energy had us.”
The panel also featured Sonia Rankin, professor of Africana Studies and Hakim Bellamy, social and community program coordinator for the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs.
The panelists agreed that King’s dream and the Civil Right Movement meant more than the election of a black president or protecting legal rights.
Gregory recounted his days in the Civil Rights Movement as a time he and others fought for universal equality.
“We didn’t [march] so a black man could be a president, that would be an insult,” he said. “We got out there [to ensure that] the people would be protected.”
The panelists said there was more to be done within the black community before the dream could be achieved.
Rankin spoke about health disparities and high unemployment and imprisonment rates, and encouraged blacks to resolve these issues by remembering and honoring their culture.
“We have always been a people of excellence,” she said. “I think we have gotten to a point where we have forgotten that. The dream will be fulfilled when it stops feeling like a feel good high and just becomes natural. Slowly but surely it will change, and I look forward to what we are going to become.”
Bellamy urged young blacks to become involved in the political sphere and effect change to achieve the dream.
“The [people behind the] movements that gave us this president were our age. Dr. King was young, Mr. Gregory was young,” he said. “I think we should go a step further, we should [run] in the election.”
Story by Jazmen Bradford
Posted by scarr at February 23, 2009 01:11 PM