We remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today.

On Saturday morning, I watched students from local schools celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  The parade was long, and the message was right.  These young people are the grandchildren of Dr. King's generation, and the march would have made him proud.

As I observed the young people walk by, I couldn't help but think of what the late Dr. King would say about the state of African Americans today.  Dr. King was killed half a century ago, and so much has changed, some good and some bad.

I recalled watching a documentary about one of the biggest moments of the 20th century or the March on Washington, plus the wonderful "I have a dream" speech.

The best part was Reverend King's words:

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. I have a dream today.

It was a great message, but where are we now?

We've made a lot of progress, from electing a black man to the White House, a black woman to the vice presidency, and many more examples.  Do you think Reverend King would have believed that in 1968?

We've also made progress in education and business.  Just look around.

Overall, lots of progress, but there are many serious problems in the inner cities, from crime to the breakdown of the family to lousy public schools and a Democrat party choking those communities.

The other big problem is that the civil rights leadership is no longer about correcting past mistakes, but rather about exploiting grievances or calling everybody a racist.  In other words, these so-called civil rights leaders of today, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, keep themselves relevant by banging the drums of racism.  Even President Biden couldn't control himself last week in Atlanta, comparing his opponents to George Wallace, Bull Connor, and Jefferson Davis.

Meanwhile, the black Democrats running most of our inner cities are not addressing the needs of their citizens, from crime to lousy public schools.  Again, just look around and see Baltimore, Chicago, and others every weekend, and so on.

What would Dr. King say today?  We will never know, but it's hard to think that he'd be happy with what we are watching.  I think that he would tell the Democrats to go back and listen to what he said in the "I have a dream" speech.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: Circe Denyer via Public Domain Pictures, CC0 public domain.  Image filtered with FotoSketcher.