AthenaAwakened
Contributor
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2003
- Messages
- 5,338
- Location
- Right behind you so ... BOO!
- Basic Beliefs
- non-theist, anarcho-socialist
THE SLAYERS OF THE DREAM
When Dr. King and the rest of the delegation from the Montgomery Improvement Association went to their first meeting with Montgomery public officials and representatives of the bus company, they went there with a proposal, a pragmatic and realistic one. They wanted a more humane form of segregation. That was the sensible thing to do. After all, segregation couldn't be ended, not in the South, certainly not in Alabama. That would be an idealistic thing to even propose, a pipe dream with no hope of success. Work within the system and incremental change will come and eventually we will get to place more comfortable in which to live.
By the time of King's assassination, de jure segregation of public facilities and services was a thing of the past. Not because King and all his fellow activists worked within the system, but because they tore the system down. Pursuit of the ideal and not acceptance of the status quo, a demand for fairness now and not a wish for change that some day may come; these are the actions that led to real justice and a closer realization of what our nation could and should be.
Every movement around the world and throughout the course of history that has propelled us as a species toward the aspirations of the better angels of our natures has first had to fight its way through a cacophony of calls and screeches of "No, you ask too much," and "You need to be more practical, more pragmatic," and "If you just work within the system and be patient, things will get better."
What if we don't want things to get better, but to get right? What if instead of choosing a slow poison or a quick one, we choose not to be contaminated at any speed? What if we have chosen to stand and fight not follow and beg? The time is always NOW to do the right thing, The time is always NOW to fight against corruption. The time is always NOW to change things for the better.
There is no better time than now, because justice delayed is justice denied and simply because a thing has been and been for a long time does not mean it can never cease to be.
Slavery ceased
Female disenfranchisement ceased
The Laws of Jim Crow ceased.
And all because everyday people chose the time to be now, the place to be here and the people to be us.
It saddens me that so many who claim as their legacy the acts of ancestors who chose here and now as the place and time to fight for what was right and righteous, now lend their voices to cries for pragmatism, practicality and passivity.
When Dr. King and the rest of the delegation from the Montgomery Improvement Association went to their first meeting with Montgomery public officials and representatives of the bus company, they went there with a proposal, a pragmatic and realistic one. They wanted a more humane form of segregation. That was the sensible thing to do. After all, segregation couldn't be ended, not in the South, certainly not in Alabama. That would be an idealistic thing to even propose, a pipe dream with no hope of success. Work within the system and incremental change will come and eventually we will get to place more comfortable in which to live.
By the time of King's assassination, de jure segregation of public facilities and services was a thing of the past. Not because King and all his fellow activists worked within the system, but because they tore the system down. Pursuit of the ideal and not acceptance of the status quo, a demand for fairness now and not a wish for change that some day may come; these are the actions that led to real justice and a closer realization of what our nation could and should be.
Every movement around the world and throughout the course of history that has propelled us as a species toward the aspirations of the better angels of our natures has first had to fight its way through a cacophony of calls and screeches of "No, you ask too much," and "You need to be more practical, more pragmatic," and "If you just work within the system and be patient, things will get better."
What if we don't want things to get better, but to get right? What if instead of choosing a slow poison or a quick one, we choose not to be contaminated at any speed? What if we have chosen to stand and fight not follow and beg? The time is always NOW to do the right thing, The time is always NOW to fight against corruption. The time is always NOW to change things for the better.
There is no better time than now, because justice delayed is justice denied and simply because a thing has been and been for a long time does not mean it can never cease to be.
Slavery ceased
Female disenfranchisement ceased
The Laws of Jim Crow ceased.
And all because everyday people chose the time to be now, the place to be here and the people to be us.
It saddens me that so many who claim as their legacy the acts of ancestors who chose here and now as the place and time to fight for what was right and righteous, now lend their voices to cries for pragmatism, practicality and passivity.