ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

What Would Martin Luther King Think of the United States Today?

Updated on January 18, 2016

How Much Have Things Changed?

Martin Luther King Jr. died almost fifty years ago. A few years before an assassin cut him down, he had helped push through major legislative achievements that began the process of tearing down institutionalized racial discrimination. He did not live long enough, however, to see the long-term effects of the Civil Rights Movement. If he were to return somehow to the United States in 2016, would he be pleased with how things have turned out? Or would he be disappointed because of the many ways that our country has not changed for the better (and may be even worse)?

I have no doubt that in some very profound ways, King would be pleasantly surprised by the state of race relations in America. The current occupant of the White House would have been unimaginable when King left this earth, and President Obama is only one of many prominent African-Americans who can be found in all walks of life. Interracial marriage is more common than ever before, signs reading white and colored have not made a comeback, and perhaps most significantly, racism is by general consensus viewed as a bad thing. The community college classrooms where I teach are far more racially diverse than what was typical decades ago, and I have not yet heard any students say that they have a problem with this. American racists today can no longer get away with the kinds of blatant expressions of bigotry that were commonly accepted throughout most of American history.

That is the good news. Unfortunately, King would also see many things that are all too familiar. When you look beyond the prominent public figures and focus on average, everyday African-Americans, enormous racial disparities remain: median income, poverty rate, unemployment, high school dropout rate, college graduation rates, and, most glaringly, the makeup of the prison population. Today, the prison population is blacker (and browner) than it was in King's day. One would think that in our post-Civil Rights Movement, supposedly post-racial society, these gaps would have narrowed significantly by now. But the statistics have not apparently changed to the same degree as the official public attitudes. And every time an incident of alleged police brutality against a black person takes place, triggering racial tensions and even riots, if feels like we are back in the 1960s all over again.

It is important to note, however, that King was concerned about more than just race. He was also outspoken about issues such as wealth inequality, poor working conditions, and the Vietnam War. Given that the gap between the rich and poor has been growing for decades, labor unions are far weaker than in King's day, and people throughout the world continue to work in deplorable conditions, King would find even more to be disappointed about. He might also wonder how it is still possible that the United States is the only remaining industrial nation that does not provide basic health insurance for all. I also doubt that he would have been thrilled by American military actions since the 9/11 attacks, although he could take small consolation in the fact that far more American soldiers died in Vietnam alone than have died in the many conflicts since.

On so many levels, why has our society not come closer to fulfilling Martin Luther King's dream? As with everything else, there is not any single, simple explanation for why we still see so much racial and economic inequality. But when you consider the centuries of firmly entrenched racism that preceded the Civil Rights Movement, it should not be surprising that such glaring racial inequalities continue. It is unrealistic to think that centuries of racism can be wiped away in fifty years. The sins of past generations have been passed on to us, and perhaps more importantly, the wealth of past generations - or the lack thereof - was passed on to their children. The United States, like all societies, is a place where a person's success is largely determined by the circumstances of his or her birth.

Hopefully, fifty years from now, we will have moved a bit closer to achieving King's dream. But as the last fifty years have demonstrated, we can never become complacent and assume that things will inevitably move in a positive direction. Some of the attacks against President Obama over the past few years, events such as Ferguson, and the not so subtle racial overtones of the current presidential race indicate that we could just as easily go backward as forward. Civil Rights Movements, as King well knew, must never end.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)