MLK Day was a great time to reflect upon one of the great speeches in our country’s history. Do we still have the same dream? Do African-American groups really dream that “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers”? Or do they dream of equal justice and power, without having to spend a lot of time with white folks?

I know that racial inequality exists in the USA… and we have hundreds of races that experience it every day, not just black people. We are a veritable melting pot, and for us to melt without burning up we need to begin to understand one another and even like one another.

African-American groups that bond together in the name of their race would do well to seek ways to understand/include people of many other racial groups, because as we learn more about each other, we overcome barriers. The more we describe other racial groups as enemies and oppressors, the more we alienate our own group, and thwart the chances we have to get beyond the barriers that keep us segregated.

It’s hard to expect real change when people exist in their own ethnic silos, never reaching out or including others, or trying to appreciate cultures different from their own. To realize the dream of MLK, we need to embrace our differences and love each other.

Our 2-party hate system has polarized this country to the point that we cannot work together on common goals. We’re finding new reasons to hate each other… new leaders to blame and hate, new ways to blame and new excuses to fall short of the dream:

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

We are imprisoning ourselves with our hatred of each other. We all have a responsibility to embrace our neighbors of various political and ethnic persuasions, and work together, bond together, and achieve more together through love and acceptance. By excluding others from our own little racial and cultural cliques we strengthen only the walls that divide us.