And His Dream Became a Reality

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, an outstanding civil rights leader, stood on the portals of the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D.C, before a thousand of black Americans to share his dream; a dream that he believed could come into reality in the nearest future. ” I have a dream”, Martin Luther started his speech, ” that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slave and the sons of former slave owner will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, he gasped, and continued his speech. ” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. He concluded this historic speech by saying ” when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village 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 old Negro spiritual: free at last! Free at last: thank God we are free at last. The whole crowd responded with a roaring ovation after he was through with his speech. The dream that Martin Luther King dreamt of then has now become a reality, after forty-five years.

Barack Obama, the son of a former slave descendant, will be sworn in as the first African-American to be elected into the highest political office of the world’s most powerful nation come January 20, 2009. This victory brings back Martin Luther King’s words, ” thank God almighty, we are free at last”, into reality. And for real, we blacks are free, but not only blacks, it also includes all oppressed minorities and marginalized groups, tribal or ethnic prejudice, victims of racial discrimination, we are all free at last because Obama’s victory is the elevation of the minority and his victory have also been able to demonstrate that it is possible to soar above prejudice, discrimination and impossibility. But let it be known that Obama is to be the president of America, regardless of race colour or creed.

Furthermore, Martin Luther King vision was not to replace black oppression with discrimination, but to transform America into a society that is racist free, where all citizens will be judged by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. The votes that ensured Obama victory was not that of the black minority but those of the white majority who looked beyond the skin to make sure that Obama was victorious. The political restructuring taking place in America, should serve as a path in which other countries of the world should follow, because no country could have easily produced an Obama as their president, with a deeply divided society as America.

Obama must not fail, if he fails he would have succeeded in been the only black America president probably, for the next three centuries. He must let his foes down by an outstanding performance in office and by working seven times harder than all his predecessors’ work, in other to achieve his dream. He must not also forget those whites who believed in his dreams, let alone disgrace we the blacks. Martin Luther King’s dream is now a reality, his words then has been made flesh. So, let the flesh live to carry out the sacred mandate of the visionary speaker of the crowd. Good luck Barack Obama.