President Reagan signs MLK holiday bill

Enough with the misused MLK quotes already.

On November 2, 1983, my father took this photo of President Reagan signing the bill establishing January 17th?as a federal holiday to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy, we will be reminded of the incredible impact he had on this nation. Often in the form of quotes from the famous “I have. Dream” speech.??

But recently I have heard one of the more famous lines being misused. The argument goes something like, “Why are we focusing on diversity? Dr. King said that we should be judged, not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character”. Or “Why do we need programs that recognize the headwinds of Black people? We should be color blind. We should be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character?”

You get the idea.

The full quote is “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” But these 35 words make up less than 3% of the speech. Almost all the remaining 97% of the words speak to how we do not yet have a society that allows us to be judged by the content of our character, and what we need to do to create such a society. Much of it summarized in these quotes;

“…the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”?

And?

“…the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.”?

And?

“When we allow freedom to ring—when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last.”?

If Dr. King were alive today, 58 years after he delivered those words, I do not know if he would be pleased with our progress. He would, no doubt, be sickened by the manner in which George Floyd and Ahmaud Aubrey lost their lives. But perhaps encouraged that their killers have been brought to justice. One thing is clear, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Aubrey will not have an opportunity to be judged by the content of their character.

So, it is important that we do more than just take January 17th?off. More than schedule our tee times or watch a marathon of NBA games. But that we do at least one small thing that moves us forward. One thing that allows those bells of freedom to ring and removes those “chains of discrimination”.??A friend and colleague of mine at my former employer, Chevron, challenged me to do just that. He didn’t just challenge me, he challenged anyone who saw his message on social media. His challenge to us was in the form of a question. He asked, “what will you do on MLK Day to honor his memory?” He took it upon himself to share that, at a minimum, he reads the “I Have a Dream” speech. All of it. It reminds him of the challenge we have ahead of us.?

Since that challenge, I have read the speech again every year. And every year, seem to see something, feel something new. This year, I am also fortunate enough to be invited to speak to a cadre of young ladies of color that are pursuing careers in STEM. They are seniors in high school and freshmen in college and are part of the STEM Impressionists Program (SIP), an organization that develops young ladies who are pursuing careers in tech, finance, social justice, artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity, and more. My words are meant to inspire them, but I’m quite certain that it will be they that are doing the inspiring.?

I am writing today to extend my friend’s challenge to you. As MLK Day approaches, I’m asking you to do?something?on MLK Day. Read something, say something, do something to honor his memory, so that someday all of us may be judged, not by the color of our skin, the shape of our face, the style of our hair, the orientation of our sexuality, or the source of our faith, but by the content of our character.?

By the way, my friend and colleague that challenged me is a White man. I think Dr. King would have liked that.?