Yesterday we paid honor to a man who stood for the cause of Colored People. We stopped to pay tribute who gave his life to further the advancement of Black People. We paused to look back at the path that we’ve traveled to get to where we are today. All of the blood shed, the tears cried, the humility taken, the beatings and murders administered. We are a people that have been belittled in this country since the beginning of time. We have been counted as 3/5 of a person and less than equal for generations on end.

Back in the 1960’s it was the March for Civil Rights. Trying to get equal rights for African Americans and Women. Trying to desegregate the South and make it legal for all races of people to attend the same schools. It was to protect Black lives and advance America as a nation. Today, we see the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s based upon similar principles. To remind the world that Black Lives Matter just as much as White and Latino lives.

We are living in a time where Police abuse and Judicial prejudice are on the rise. We are living in a time where we are comfortable electing a egotistical asshole to be President of the United States, over pragmatic approaches of Kasich or possibly Marco Rubio. We are living in a time when Supreme Court Justices are wanting to strike down Affirmative Action and want to gut the rights of American Unions. We are watching as many corporations are recording record profits and refusing to reinvest that in their people with raises in pay, but rather giving the money to those same CEO’s that already make millions of dollars a year.

The equality that King and Malcolm and others fought and died for is being stripped away slowly but surely. States tightening up the their Voter ID requirements. States trying to suppress the Colored vote by redistricting us into smaller, more marginalized districts. Whites realizing that their majority is steadily shrinking doing everything within their power to make sure their Might is on display. We are existing at a time when those around the country have no respect for our first Black President and First Lady if they don’t agree with their politics.

The honest truth is we should all be our Brothers Keeper. White and Black, Asian and Jewish. All people inbetween need to be aware that if we don’t protect each other and watch out for each other we will be left alone. I think one of the biggest lessons that we learned from this movement is the power of togetherness. When we can bind together in the face of tremendous odds and overcome. Please people I don’t care what side of the spectrum you sit on, if you really care about your country then you will take offense to the vitriol and disdain in our politics. You will oppose the injustices and inequalities we have in this country and work together to a solution.

It’s really sad that Dr. King’s speech is still applicable to todays time. Yes, we have come a ways from the old days of Jim Crow and all of that. But if you take a hard look we are still in so many ways trapped in the 1960’s. We’re still fighting for freedom and the hate that exists needs to end. We are one America and one People. Let’s show the world just how great America can truly be.