I think my The Dream Lives On post of 2003 is still valid for a good King Day read. There hasn't been that much change in race relations in two years. We have made some strides in the recent past, but they're incremental. There seemed to be a bit less racial vitriol in the last election than in 2000.
There was a little bit of flap when Herb Winningham got axed at Notre Dame, but we've progressed to a point where we don't subject a black person to the Peter Principal because we're afraid to fire them when they're not quite doing the job. Winningham landed on his feet at Washington. Yes, blacks are still underrepresented in college coaching, where ADs may well be partly afraid to make their biggest promotional and fundraising face to a black guy. However, good black folks will advance.
Politically, we've reintegrated the Senate, and with a guy with enough character gravitas to make a difference, as opposed to the gal who held the seat a cycle ago, who was a debit to her race with various low-grade corruptions. Yes, to make the bashing bipartisan, we saw Armstrong Williams become a debit to his race and party. Another blessing is that we're switching black Secretaries of State.
It's a good day to remember the struggles we went through to get to a point where I can seriously talk about Alabama electing a black senator. While I was driving north this morning, I was hearing about a civil-rights fundraiser concert circa 1963 in Alabama with Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles and other black music stars that needed severe police protection from Klan threats; everyone was spooked when the stage collapsed by accident. We're still not quite where Dr. King envisioned back in '63, but we're a long way along that road.
To paraphrase a stand-up comedian, "When the most famous rapper is white and the most famous golfer is black, you know the they are two of the four horsemen of the apocalypse."
Posted by: David Marcoe | January 18, 2005 at 06:00 AM