EDITORIAL – Upholding King’s dream today

We all know the vision of equality the most famous leader of the Civil Rights movement, Martin… We all know the vision of equality the most famous leader of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., dreamt. Just yesterday we honored the Nobel Laureate, minister and non-violence promoter by taking a day off in reverence.

Now that we’ve had a day to reflect about his famous speech, today we must honestly examine whether we are doing something to ensure that King’s sentiments toward being judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin aren’t but a dream.

While Pitt isn’t the model campus for such observations, it’s undeniable that on a national level, we’ve made progress. Black people and white people work together in professional environments, attend school together and are living in a more integrated society than ever before.

But if you are listening for freedom bells, time is not on your side. In our country’s journey to racial equality a long road lies ahead. Formally, in constitutions and official documents governing organizations, discrimination has been etched out; informally, de facto segregation and covert racism thrive.

Whether it’s a family member. a friend or an acquaintance who has made an off-color comment, we all know someone who is racist. And with each racial slur said, legal injustice based on race or dirty look an interracial couple must endure, we must realize that we are not where we need to be.

It starts with understanding. Unfortunately, most media outlets do not give us an intelligent medium through which we can get to know each other. What most white people who aren’t exposed to black people gather from television about the black community comes from rap videos on BET and the gang violence shown on the nightly news. Black people who lack exposure gather their perception of white America from the sarcastic humor in TV sitcoms and political shows that feature the conservative right categorizing their race as welfare-abusers.

Black people and white people misunderstand each other. India Arie’s problems with the media comes to mind in her song “Video:” “A misconception, a mass deception/ Something’s gotta change…”

Knowing what we now know, we have to take a step further to understand where each group is coming from. And although we can fight the media powers that be, we can change ourselves more quickly than any institution.

It’s not going to happen overnight. But if we want to make significant progress regarding our own internalized prejudices, it has to start with the little things.

Maybe a step can be some water-cooler conversation with a co-worker who looks nothing like you. Perhaps all it takes is sitting next to someone at Schenley you don’t know.

Looking at more local strides that can be made, it’s important to note that you can attend events outside of your race. For example, although it’s called the Black Action Society, people of all races can attend events and be card-carrying members.

At the end of the day, black people and white people aren’t that different. We’ve been brought to the same place, with the same goals and objectives of graduating and getting a good job. And even if it is not necessarily a biological parent, everyone here has someone out there who wants him or her to succeed.

On another note, it’s also healthy to see color, hair texture and other physical characteristics. It’s a good thing to take notice of things that make us all beautiful and unique. Be proud that we live in a country where the people among you aren’t as homogenized as the milk refrigerated in the convenience stores on every corner.

Today the conflict is more complex than black vs. white. People are of different creeds, we don’t all have the same sexual orientation and some of us are disabled. Let’s celebrate diversity and not denigrate it. With this understanding, with acceptance instead of just tolerance, comes sensitivity.

There are words we used in high school, or among our friends of our same race that are unacceptable. Words that make light of Jewish people, of those who are disabled, black or simply different are not in line with the dream King had for us. These words need to be eradicated from our vocabulary.

As we continue to attend this university together, we are re-igniting Martin Luther King’s flame of hope and desire for this country. It does our society good to remember King’s philosophy and take his attitudes and honor them in not only relations between black people and white people, but between people of all races.