by Brandi Finch

Created on: September 03, 2009

"I have a dream. . ." At the March on Washington in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech. His speech included the quoted words above. King had a dream that one day, people of all races could live together in peace and harmony without discrimination against a person because of the color of their skin. Now, 46 years later the question that is being asked is "Has Martin Luther King's vision been fulfilled." How can a person, in present day 2009 watch the news, read a newspaper, or even leave their house and say that King's dream has been fulfilled?

On the news recently was a story about a swim club outside of Philadelphia. A local day camp sent money to this club in order to take the children that were involved there. When other members of the club heard that there would be black children as well, they were far from thrilled. When the day camp arrived at the club, they were welcomed with glares and people racing to take their children out of the pool.

The club eventually refunded the camps money denying that it had anything to do with race. They claimed that it was because they didn't have the occupancy level to hold all of the children and their other members. This of coarse meant that the children would be denied access to that pool. This is far from King's dream of a perfect world. There is also racism against Hispanic people. There are jokes and comments made everyday. There is also the language barrier. When a Hispanic person cannot speak English that creates tension and anger from people who do speak English.

This resolves in hate crimes and violence that could have been avoided if people were more accepting. Also if you were to walk into an airport and see a person wearing a turban what is the first thing that would come to your mind? People are placed into the category of terrorist because of the way they look. And although this isn't because of their race, it is still discrimination the one thing Martin Luther King was protesting against. There are also gay hate crimes and although this also isn't because of race or religion, it still is a hate crime against someone who is different. In 1998, Matthew Shepard was attacked, tortured, and then eventually murdered because he was in fact a homosexual.

The people who are discriminated and hated so much are people just like everyone else in the world. Yes, they may dress and look different but they are still human and should be treated as such. And though we have come a long way since the days of 1963, we still have a long way to go before we "Rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice." - Martin Luther King Jr.

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