Wednesday 28 August 2013

Remembering Dr King is not enough


Today is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom when Dr Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I have a dream” speech

It is one of the finest pieces of rhetoric in modern times. Not surprising since Dr King was a preacher who understood the power of words. He moved the 250,000 people who stood before him in front of the Lincoln Memorial and countless others across the US and the rest of the world. I know my parents and their contemporaries struggling for freedom in South Africa felt he was speaking to them when he envisaged a future in which his “ four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. 

It was a powerful speech and one that we should all read again today.  We can reflect that much has changed since that August day half a century ago. We have seen African American men and women achieve amazing things. They have become mayors and Supreme Court judges, generals and admirals, Congress men and women and Secretaries of State. We have seen the election not once but twice of Barack Obama as President of the United States. 

But before we get all dewy-eyed about it, let us also remember that there is still so much more to do.  Let us remember that the racial disparities within the US remain stark. The life chances of both Hispanic and African-Americans are worse than that of their white counterparts. This is perhaps seen most vividly when it comes to the criminal justice system.  For example although Hispanic and African-American make up under 30 per cent of the US population, they make up around 60 per cent of the US prison population. A staggering 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. And if you are an African American man who didn’t finish high school you have a one in three chance of being incarcerated.  

One consequence of these dramatic ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system is that state laws which remove the right to vote from people with felony convictions (5.3 million Americans denied the vote so far and counting) has a greater impact on Hispanic and African-American men. As a result 13 per cent of all African American men have been disenfranchised, in 11 states this amounts to more than 10 per cent of their African American population.

I don’t think Dr King would have been proud today. I think he would be standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial demanding that we do more.

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