MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
Staying on the path of an unfulfilled dream
By M. Daniel Gibbard and Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporters
January 18, 2005
With the passion of a preacher and the skills of an actress, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Yolanda gave Northwestern University students a lesson Monday in the civil rights movement's past and urged them to be its present and future.
"To some of you, the civil rights movement is ancient history," she told a full house during King Day ceremonies at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
Yet it was only 40 years ago, she said, that the "ugly, sinful" era--the "whites only, colored only" signs, the killings and beatings, the institutional racism--was in full effect.
"It was not a documentary, it was not a reality show on TV," said King, 49. "It was live, and in living color."
There has been progress, she said, but not enough.
"We as a nation have not reached the promised land," she said. Citing greed, hatred, racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, violence and war, she said, "The magnificent dream pursued by my father is still a dream."
Rev. Jesse Jackson addressed that theme at a King Day rally in Chicago, calling for new action against poverty, joblessness and the lack of health insurance.
Yolanda King, a movie, theater and television actress, also gave the diverse audience a history lesson.
Outfitted in scarlet and in constant motion across the stage, she acted out scenes from the civil rights movement, including a young girl in Alabama in the 1950s, giddy in anticipation of a bus ride in which she will, for the first time, be free to sit wherever she chooses.
"Can you imagine, colored people can sit anywhere we want to on the bus!" she cried. "I bet old Jefferson Davis is turning over in his grave!"
Donning a head scarf and glasses, she played Rosa Parks, the woman who made that girl's happiness possible when, in 1955, she was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white person, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott, which helped bring Martin Luther King Jr. to national prominence.
She also portrayed the fear and chaos of a student facing down the fire hoses and police dogs that Birmingham Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor turned on protesters.
The images from those riots, broadcast on television, helped turn the nation against Southern segregation, she said.
"America was shocked," King said. "It's one thing to hear about [atrocities in the South], it's another thing to see them, sitting in your living room."
Though the protesters lost that first confrontation, national outrage resulting from TV coverage brought great pressure on Birmingham's officials, she said. Connor's men subsequently did not threaten the protesters.
"We today have the same power available to us," King said. "And we must choose to use it."
With a trace of bitterness, she implied that the radical ideas her father espoused, the same ones that got him killed, are often diluted during tributes to him. It is much easier to build monuments than change the system, she said.
"So now that he is safely dead, we will teach our children that he was a great man ..., knowing full well that the dream for which he died is still a dream," she said.
Students praised King's presentation.
"It was a great message, and I definitely think it falls by the wayside sometimes just because life in general is getting better," said Tonjua Jones, 19, a sophomore from Southfield, Mich.
"I thought the message was very hopeful," said Kathryn Schneider, 22, a senior from Glenview. "I felt like she was sending everyone off with the hope that we can make a difference in our smaller communities, starting on a smaller level and moving hopefully worldwide, especially in this time of crisis" in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Jackson was giving a fiery speech at the Chicago Hilton & Towers as part of the King commemoration by PUSH for Excellence. Civil rights activists must go back to the streets at a time of new troubles and injustice, Jackson said.
"Today, 45 million Americans have no health insurance. The middle class is sinking. There is a net loss of jobs in nearly every state. The poverty base is expanding. And so it is a time to march again" in "a new poor people's campaign" for jobs, justice, health care and education, he said.
Jackson, a one-time aide to King, also decried what he said was vote fraud in the 2004 presidential election.
"Dr. King knew progress was built on our voting franchise," he said. "Today, Republicans are shameless as we are disenfranchised, and Democrats are too passive and unwilling to defend their own interests by demanding a thorough investigation of the voter irregularities ..., voter-suppression tactics and violations of the Voting Rights Act.
"Leaders have gone to the West Bank, to Ukraine, and Kerry went to Iraq, checking on democracy." But few political leaders went to Ohio, where irregularities were rife, he said.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who also spoke at the commemoration, hailed progress helping minorities in Illinois.
The governor also released a study he commissioned a year ago to identify racial and other inequalities in Illinois. "Building Bridges and Closing Gaps: Disparities in Illinois" lists 12 problem areas and recent steps the state has taken to address them.
"Illinois finds itself in a moment pregnant with promise," said the study, written by Dr. Robert Starks of Northeastern Illinois University. "Despite alarming gaps in housing, health care, criminal justice, economic development and employment, the state has taken great strides in bridging the gaps."
