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What Black leaders must do to fulfill King's dream
To achieve equity, policies and actions need to be bold.
By Willie Wilson
January 15, 2024 at 12:00AM
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As we honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday with programs, pageantry and celebrations for a man who shared a powerful dream in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, that dream remains largely unfulfilled.
King's dream was a colorblind society; he challenged America to live up to its founding promises of freedom, equality and justice for all. But in spite of a record 62 Black members serving in Congress and Black mayors leading major cities — Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia — Black Americans today face inequalities in education, criminal justice, health care, economics and contracting.
What's worse is that many state legislatures have passed laws removing Black history from schools and regulating how teachers can discuss race in the classroom, a blatant attempt to rewrite history.
King's dream can be realized if Black elected leaders use their power and prestige to bring about equity. For the first time in history, there are a record seven Black statehouse speakers: Emanuel "Chris" Welch in Illinois; Joanna McClinton, Pennsylvania; Adrienne Jones, Maryland; Joe Tate, Michigan; Carl Heastie, New York; Rachel Talbot Ross, Maine; and Don Scott Jr., Virginia. The minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives is Hakeem Jeffries, a Black man. The collective power of Black elected leaders is unparalleled at this moment.
Yet what good is that power if it is not being used to right the wrongs of the past and present? Black elected leaders must be bold in their policies to end generational poverty and provide hope for communities that have been left behind. They must not be content with the trappings of power.
The Black community needs equity in housing, health care, education, jobs and contracting. In King's beloved Chicago, a place he once called home, homelessness, hopelessness, drug addiction and mental illness abound. Homeless encampments in public parks and tent cities along expressways underscore the necessity for public policy around affordable and fair housing.
In 1966, King moved his family to the North Lawndale neighborhood to highlight awful living conditions for Black people and fight for fair housing. Those conditions have worsened. King likely would be shocked to see the dehumanization of the dispossessed and disinherited and wonder if his protesting were in vain. I think he would be appalled to know that Madison Street on the West Side looks much like it did after the 1968 riots.
When King led a protest in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood, he was primarily fighting against a white supremacist establishment that wanted to maintain the status quo. King declared, "I have never in my life seen such hate ... not in Mississippi or Alabama." I wonder what King would say today — with Black people serving as major political leaders in Congress, state legislatures and big cities. And yet Black people remain at the bottom of the economic and social ladder.
We continue to grapple with persistent health disparities. King said: "Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death."
Our elected leaders matter because government has an impact. Government leaders' arrogance and perpetuation of inequality can be seen in their response to the migrant crisis. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are diverting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to provide for migrants. A government that fails to prioritize, protect and provide for its citizens is morally bankrupt.
The following are suggestions to make King's dream a reality:
Black elected leaders at the federal, state and local levels must unite and use their collective voice to present bold policy initiatives and resources to close racial disparities.
Business and government leaders should fund think tanks at historically Black colleges and universities to measure progress regarding generational issues affecting Black communities.
Citizens must vote and hold elected officials accountable for improving their quality of life.
I write this commentary to make those comfortable with promoting inequality and injustice uncomfortable.
Willie Wilson is a Chicago business owner. This article first appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
about the writer
Willie Wilson
A voice — or voices, since he sometimes wrote in character — unsatisfied with mere good intention.
