Another Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday and Signs of Hope January 18th, 2021

 It has been a real rollercoaster ride this past year; 

...with the pandemic, 

...with the mostly peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations after George Floyd's unjust and needless death, 

...with the monumental election with the first woman and person of color in the role of vice president.

Actually, the past four years have been a rollercoaster ride for many of us and, especially for people of color, possibly, disheartening to see and hear the vitriolic ramblings of a sick, selfish narcissist and the rise of his white supremacist following.  One political party actually had a Voter Fraud playbook that they unsuccessfully employed to try to disenfranchise black voters, putting hurdles in the way of voting.  

But in spite of the attempt to put black voters down, people of color turned this election around.  The blacks of South Carolina came out in large numbers to vote for Joe Biden in their presidential primary.  Once "Sleepy" Joe picked Kamala Harris, a woman of Jamaican and East Indian descent, as his vice-presidential candidate, people of color came out to vote in huge numbers in key swing states to push this ticket over the finish line.  Nearly 90% of blacks pushed the Biden-Harris ticket ahead in places like Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta and turning the election upside down from 2016.  After staying home in 2016, people of color voted in record numbers in this historic election.

So hope rises again.  

That the inequities of the past 400 years of the enslaved peoples that unwillingly built this great nation, the terror of the Jim Crow era, the inequities of the 1950's housing lockout, the injustices of the war of drugs that incarcerated large numbers of blacks, the police brutality that brings us to today's unjust world, might somehow be overturned with Joe and Kamala.  

Hope rises again that we might make this a more just world.  A world where every person of color has a chance to make a better life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream nearly 60 years ago.  MLK Jr. "I Have A Dream" Speech (VIDEO) | HuffPost but that dream goes unfulfilled.   

"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children."

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God's children.  Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, immigrants seeking asylum.  

There is room for all in this white privileged society.  

This great nation can become even greater by opening its arms to all peoples.  

There is room for everyone.  

There are signs of hope.  

Hope that the pandemic will go away with a vaccine.  

Hope that we will get our economy back on track.  

Hope that all peoples can participate in that economic rebound.  

Hope that we will have a better America where "justice is a reality for all of God's children".

Think about it.  What can you do to make tomorrow a better world?  

It's time to start looking outwardly again.

Happy Birthday, Martin.

I will get back to basketball ratings tomorrow.  

God Bless

......Gramps