What Would Dr. Martin Luther King Think Of The View From The Mountaintop Today?

This article is timed with the unveiling of The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. As we gather to gaze up at Dr. King's furrowed brow in the coming weeks, we as a nation must ask the question, have we lived up to Dr. King's vision from the mountaintop?

Dr. King was a man who was unafraid to lead. His life was a fight in which he believed "an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". In today's times, shouldn't all of our nations leaders work to mirror the leadership of Dr. King? We all must strive in our own lives to be living memorials. The political situation in Washington is a testament of what is not remembered in the words of Dr. King. We are shredding the poor in all facets and entitling the rich. We have a president who, on one hand, embodies the dream of Dr. King yet fails because he has been pressured to ransom our economy and its promise.

We so need to remember King’s vision today. In the United States, the large gap between the rich and the poor has reached record highs since the Great Depression. The median net worth of black households is $13,450. This is 1/10th of what the income is of white households.

In the last year of his life, Dr. King mounted the Poor People's Campaign. The campaign recognized that poverty and economic alienation was the unifying struggle of America. King saw an increased need for a new understanding and a determination by poor people of all colors and backgrounds to declare and win their right to a decent life and respect for their culture and dignity. It was an issue that demanded a resolution with great leadership. King claimed it, unafraid, though he knew it would put him in direct conflict with America’s political elites. He died before the fight had really begun.

Dr. King saw a nation where the vulnerable, the innocent, and the oppressed struggled for their inalienable rights. In one of King's final sermons before his untimely assassination, King spoke of being a drum major. He said that he was a drum major for peace, justice, and righteousness. We all must be drum majors. All of us have to be regardless of race, color, religion, or sexual preference.

Millions of Americans are unemployed and the inequality of the economy is on the rise, as well as, aid for the needy and infirmed. Americans are again in desperate need of Dr. King's type of coming to the aid of Americans who are disenfranchised. He was never afraid of going toe to toe with those folks that opposed his views. Please Mr. President be more than a symbol of the embodiment of Dr. King's dream.