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Did Dr. King's dream die on a summer Thursday?

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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 08:50 AM
Original message
Did Dr. King's dream die on a summer Thursday?
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8398

Did Dr. King's dream die on a summer Thursday?
by Dennis Rahkonen | Jun 29 2007


I don't think I've ever feared for America's future as much as on the 28th of June, 2007.

Not even during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when I was a boy ducking down beneath the edge of our bathtub, as a radio in the next room warned of possible nuclear war at any moment, and my sudsy float toys slipped away from trembling hands.

Not on 9/11, which I'd almost come to expect, given the foreign rage that Washington's abysmally misguided policies were generating throughout especially the Islamic world.

On the third-to-last day of my favorite month, just hours ago, I clearly saw the specter of a fascist tomorrow.

The U.S. Supreme Court savaged Dr. King's dream -- and all those years of such hard struggle by so many -- by deciding that race couldn't be used in determining student make-up in our nation's schools, thereby throwing open the gates to renewed, inevitable segregation.

snip//

Does someone harbor the Hitlerian notion that only "Aryan" kids matter, or are innately, solely capable of technical and scientific expertise? Tell that to the nonwhite Chinese, whose school children are running rings around our own in the hard sciences.

The thinly-disguised idea that "white is right," and everyone else is expendable, carries the stench of anti-Semitism from the Nazi era.

To succeed in Germany, fascism needed the Jewish straw man.

For quite some time now, the United States has been beset by decidedly dangerous, antidemocratic, right-wing ambition. Well organized, and determined.

Yesterday we saw two manifestations of a singular social malevolence that, I'm very afraid, will one day ruin America.

more...
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rurallib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 08:55 AM
Response to Original message
1. Not just Dr. King but also Thurgood Marshall and Rosa Parks
and countless other extremely brave souls who stood up to move equality another inch forward at the risk of their lives and their family lives.
This administration has moved this country backwards using the 'rule of law' with a smirk on their collective faces.
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loyalkydem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. I think it did
The white people on craigslist are celebrating the decision. I'm also angry that some African American parents got in on this too. I'm in Louisville Kentucky and we have a mixed reaction. I know one thing, the Supreme Court is going to play a huge factor in who I vote for President now.
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classysassy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 11:24 AM
Response to Original message
3. Uncle Tom
and four white clowns,returns america to her hateful past.Shame on you Clarence.
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hisownpetard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 04:19 PM
Response to Original message
4. I never dreamt that, in this day and age,
we would see the civil rights movement move BACKWARDS. But then, again,
we've moved backwards in so many other areas - ripping the Constitution to shreds along
the way - thanks to the ruling party whose conscience-less members will be judged, when
their time comes, not by the color of their skin but by the CONTEMPT
of their character.
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ismnotwasm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 07:36 PM
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5. It's messed up.
I was among the first to attend "desegregated" schools in the '70's. The library was full of books on different races. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" changed my life at the age of 12. I remember being in middle school while "race riots" were going on in the high school up the street. Over time, I saw the changes, in myself, in my parents. I saw how my own children though nothing of having a friend of color (at an age where innocence of such things still ruled) Children, given an opportunity (provided they aren't damaged beyond repair with the disease of racism)"desegregate" themselves on a social level.

My white grandson's stepfather--"real" father actually-- is a black man, and my grandson will hopefully not go through what he would have even 20 years ago. As it is, my daughter, her spouse and my grandson, already face racism. As will any children they have.

I hate to see this, all the trials, all the agony, all the joy, all the hard work fall to the power of racism.
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 07:58 PM
Response to Original message
6. Clarence Thomas was the worst, but the majority was awful. Look out for what's coming.
Clarence Thomas made clear that the Supreme Court won't take social impact of decisions into account. Ever hear of the Brandeis Brief, butthead Thomas? He will certainly take it into account to rule for his corporate massas.

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Grandrose Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-29-07 09:05 PM
Response to Original message
7. K&R
Thank you for posting this article! Scary times and no relief in sight!:-( :kick:
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