A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore -

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

James Mercer Langston Hughes 

 

Every year on the anniversary of Dr. King's birth commentators ask if we have fulfilled his dream. Of course not.

We have all come so far as a nation. African Americans have accomplished so much with judicial and legislative support. And we want recognition and commendation for that. And some want permission to stop working for change and don't want to hear anything about justice.

But there is still injustice in our world and in this nation: There is still bias against African Americans, bias against immigrants, particularly Latinos, bias against lesbian and gay folk. And there is still crushing poverty around the world and here in the US. 

The dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the dream of God: The reign of God; the beloved community. We will get there. But we are not there yet.