Editorial: Martin Luther King Jr.’s dreams still ring out

Tribune-Review | Monday, January 18, 2021 8:05 a.m.

Dillon Carr | Tribune-Review

A photo of the March on Washington taken by pianist Joe Hajdu.

When Martin Luther King Jr. came to the Lincoln Memorial in March 1963, he spoke words that echoed like a bell.

They rang true and resonated with both heartbreak and faith as he spoke about a dream of equality, freedom and the future. It was a moment that seems suspended in amber — an example of how far the country had come since its founding and since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and yet how very far the nation still had to go.

While we can look at that speech as the inspiring call to hope that it was, it can also be seen as the bookend to President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech three years earlier, where he challenged Americans to ask what they could do for their country.

In the decades that have passed, what have each of us done to realize King’s dream? Have we reached out? Have we shared a seat at our tables? Have we worked to break down boundaries or have we erected them? Have we reacted out of fear or jealousy — or have we taken proactive steps for the betterment of all?

The events of 2020 showed places where we have fallen short. The emotion and outcry surrounding the death of George Floyd were a spotlight that could not be ignored on the “great trials and tribulations” King named.

But it is important to remember that King’s dream wasn’t born that day. The lyrical rise and fall of his words at the memorial were his most recent reprise of a song he had been singing for years. Months earlier in Detroit, another speech seemed like a separate stanza of the same hymn.

“I have a dream this afternoon that the brotherhood of man will become a reality in this day,” he said.

Dreams rarely come true so fast. Instead, they are horizons we sail toward with the help of stars that guide our way, knowing we have to keep faith we are going in the right direction until suddenly, we reach the shore.

If equality is that dream, we have to keep steering toward it, consulting the compass and correcting our course along the way. And it can’t hurt to keep listening to the clear ringing bell of King’s words.