Lethia Swett Mann recently wrote an article describing her hope that one day we will fulfill King’s dream:
Four days before his death, on March 31, 1968, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King said, “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.”
Sadly to say, as of today it seems we do not have the will.
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The article based on 2005 census data goes on to state that nationwide, racial disparities in income, education and home ownership persist decades after the civil rights movement, and by some measurements, are growing.
Throughout the U.S. white households had incomes that were two-thirds higher than blacks and 40 percent higher than Hispanics.
I see it as a terrible disgrace that we still have poverty in this day and age. Even worse, racism still plagues our society.
We cannot ignore this problem. The poverty trap keeps racist poverty alive, generation after generation. Our society neglects children born into poverty. At best, poor children receive second-rate education and healthcare, and inadequate food, clothes, and shelter. As a result, they neither gain the skills nor the opportunity to succeed by growing into self-sufficient adults. Thus, most children born into poverty remain in poverty their entire lives. And racism plays its part in two major ways. First, more blacks get born into poverty. Then, poor black children face yet even more obstacles, such as racist police and Eurocentric education curricula.
Why did we let Martin Luther King’s plan die with him?