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When Dreams Come True: Or Martin Luther King’s Dream Was Not Wild Enough

By Anita Mathias

As a teenager, the American Jesuits at Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, where my father taught, lent me an anthology of Great American Speeches to prepare for elocution competions. And so I memorized Frederick Douglass’ brilliant, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July,” (1854) and Martin Luther King’s equally brilliant, “I have a dream” which has been ringing in my ears this week.

* * *

 In 1963, 49 years ago, Martin Luther King addressed 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

We’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 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. And so, we’ve come to cash this check .

And 45 years later, by electing and re-electing a Black President to the White House, American made reality of a dream beyond King’s very, very modest dream, which he described:

I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

 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!

I have a dream that one day, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

 * * *

To me, as a minority American citizen (I lived there for 17 years!) watching from England, the 2008 and 2012 elections were profoundly redemptive. Like many people, I could hardly hold back my tears.

I watched America toss into the dustbin of history the shameful legacy of slavery, which Frederick Douglass graphically described in his great speech “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” “What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their mastcrs? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong?” 

I watched white men and women, along with black men and women who had been legally discriminated against in the segregated South and had been largely disenfranchised until the 1965 Voting Rights Act, vote not once but twice for a Black President, to the joy of the watching world.

And within living memory of the brutalities of the civil rights movement, I watched Americans elect as President of the United States of America a black man called Barack Hussein Obama, whose name recalled two of America’s greatest recent enemies, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, a name that should have been a non-starter in American-politics!

There were some white faces in the crowd who listened to Martin Luther King, perhaps 5%. And in the crowd who listened to Barack Obama’s re-election speech? Over 50%. You’ve come a long way, America!

As I realized last week  during my wonderful stay in a Christian community in Germany, nations can change. They can reinvent themselves, just as individuals can.

* * *

I watched my 18 year old daughter, Zoe, fill out her absentee ballot for Barack Hussein Obama,

And when the election results were analysed the next day, I was proud of the way our family voted.

I’m guessing most people vote for the candidate whose policies, in their estimation, most benefit themselves and their families.

These were the groups who predominantly voted for Obama. Blacks (94%), Asians (74%), Latinos (73%), and Jews (69%).  However, whites still make up 72% of the electorate, and without their support, Obama would not have won. 41% of whites voted for a black President. And this would have been beyond Martin Luther King’s wildest dreams. No wonder, as the results rolled in, so many were tearful.

Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Jews. Who else voted for Barack Hussein Obama? Women: 55%. Young people 18-29: 60%. Those in the lowest income bracket (below $50,000): 60%.

Romney did best among whites, especially men, especially those over 65, especially those earning more than $100,000, and with a college degree.

 * * *

Karl Barth famously said, “Take your Bible and take your newspapers, and read both.”   Rowan Williams repeated Barth’s advice for his successor, “You have to be cross-referencing all the time”

And so when I read of the people who elected Barack Obama, I thought of the support base of David, the King of Israel who was most after God’s heart.  “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander.” (1 Samuel 22:2)

I thought of the support base of Jesus, people who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law is accursed.” (John 7:48). “The large crowd listened to him with delight.” (Mark 12:37). “The people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing,” (Luke 13:17).

Yeah, I was kind of glad our family voted for the candidate supported by ethnic minorities, by women, and by groups with somewhat lower education and income, and whose policies are in their estimate, most likely to “make justice roll down like a river”.

I am glad Americans voted in someone perceived to be good news to the poor. And I believe he will be a great American president.

* * *

In fact, ironically, Martin Luther King’s big dream was not big enough. Having a black President in the White House would have seemed an impossible dream in 1963, in an era of legalized segregation and discrimination, when hundreds of thousands of African-American were denied the vote though literacy tests (administered by whites, which even the literate “failed,”) poll taxes or physical violence

But perhaps King foresaw more than he could have credibly shared. The last lines of his last speech on April 3rd, 1968 the night before he was assassinated are powerful and prophetic.

We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.

And I don’t mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I’m happy, tonight.

I’m not worried about anything.

I’m not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

 * * *

All our eyes are seeing glory–the glory of nations, America, Germany, Britain, transcending their dark histories, forgetting the sin and shame of the past, moving forward to the day when in the words of the prophet Amos quoted in Martin Luther King’s great “I have a Dream” speech, “justice shall roll down like a river, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Filed Under: random Tagged With: Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King

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Anita Mathias: About Me

Anita Mathias

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My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

Recent Posts

  •  On Not Wasting a Desert Experience
  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
  • On Yoga and Following Jesus
  • Silver and Gold Linings in the Storm Clouds of Coronavirus
  • Trust: A Message of Christmas
  • Life- Changing Journaling: A Gratitude Journal, and Habit-Tracker, with Food and Exercise Logs, Time Sheets, a Bullet Journal, Goal Sheets and a Planner
  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
  • “An Autobiography in Five Chapters” and Avoiding Habitual Holes  
  • Shining Faith in Action: Dirk Willems on the Ice
  • The Story of Dirk Willems: The Man who Died to Save His Enemy

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What I’m Reading

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Barak Obama

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H Is for Hawk
Helen MacDonald

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Tiny Habits
B. J. Fogg

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The Regeneration Trilogy
Pat Barker

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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