“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.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 28, 1963


Martin Luther King, Jr. has always been a hero of mine. He was a man that put his principles above everything. I truly believe that he meant his words to apply to all of mankind. I believe that if the tables had been turned and he would have been born into a world where anyone else was judged by the color of their skin he would have stood up for them, even if he wasn’t categorized with them.

Today I was going to talk about a couple of experiences I had this week: one with the wife of a deceased WWII veteran and another with an Iraq War hero. I will have to get back to those because this topic has been eating at me.

We have made enormous progress since King’s time. I would even say that we are at the verge of living his dream. I would never compare what we are going through now with the atrocities faced during the civil rights movement. In this case, I truly hope history doesn’t repeat itself. With that being said, there are some areas that need serious improvement.

I’m not talking about the way we think and react in social settings. I know that unfortunately there will always be differences, misunderstandings, and stereotypes between races. What I am talking about are the public and corporate policies that propagate the judgment of others by the color of their skin.

I know what it’s like to be turned away from a job because of my skin color, even though I am best qualified. This may seem trivial to some, but it is an experience that first heightened my awareness of race issues in America. When I was 17 I applied for a job at a retail store and got an interview. I nailed the interview, and was even told that I was a shoo in. I have to say that I appreciated the manager’s honesty when she told me that she got word from corporate that if there were any acceptable black or hispanic applicants that they had to hire them to meet their quota. So, I’m still not sure if this was just a corporate policy or if there was some affirmative action law in effect. Who knows, it may have just been an effort to create a more diverse appearance for marketing purposes. At any rate, the manager was very frank with me by letting me know that I was the most qualified applicant and her choice for the job, but she couldn’t hire me because I’m white.

I thought that I would never be subjected to any sort of racism worse than being turned away from a job. But I was wrong. A large part of my job now is government contracting. I routinely turn down proposals that are the most qualified because they are not from minority owned businesses (and minority has a very narrow definition). I have now been on the other side of the coin, and it feels much worse. I hate racist policies. They degrade the people they are trying to elevate. They are telling them that they aren’t good enough to make it on their own so they need the government’s ruling hand to interfere.

You could probably also guess that another reason I brought this subject up is the recent nomination of the self-proclaimed racist, Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. In her own words, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.”

Moreover, it sickens me that no one will stand up to her. She has no chance of being judged by the content of her character (or lack thereof) because she has already been judged and deemed flawless because of her race (and gender). I think that the way she ruled in the New Haven Firefighter’s case should disqualify her from being a judge let alone on the Supreme Court! Here is a link to the left’s defense of her on this case, no matter how you spin it, it’s still a bunch of bunk.

On the bright side, to finish this post on a positive note, my recent outlook has been very optimistic. I have faith that good people everywhere will begin to unite and draw the line very clearly where they stand. At that point the “tent” under which they stand will grow bigger, not because the good people compromise their values to meet others half way, but because they stand firm until others recognize that they share the same values and then they will flock to the tent regardless of the color of their skin. In that day, Martin Luther King’s dream will be a reality.