Martin Luther King's Dream is More Alive Than Ever

It is some time since I have written in this blog. Not since before the election of Donald Trump, a man whose offensive behavior and racist, sexist and divisive statements make him unfit to be the president of the United States. And yet he is about to be sworn into office, with a firestorm of controversies engulfing him regarding the election itself, his likely ties to Russia, his refusal to truly divest himself from his businesses and avoid the possibility and appearance of corruption, his continued gross insensitivity to issues of race and gender and poverty, and so much more, clouding his presidency even before he assumes it.

I love America deeply with all my heart. I chose America as the nation in which I wished to live and be a citizen. I believe the vast energy, love and compassion of America will endure long after Donald Trump is out of office. His time is short. America represents, still, with all its complex, painful history, an idea that we can be better as a people, that we can strive for equality and justice. I do not believe that Trump gives much thought to equality and his concept of justice, like so much else in his life, is entirely one-sided. But, his time is short. Four years or less, if he is impeached.

On this shining Martin Luther King holiday, we should celebrate diversity and unity against all those who would divide us. Martin Luther King was non-violent and believed in love, but he was also an immensely courageous man who sacrificed his life to make many millions of other people far more free than they had ever been. President Obama, pictured here reaching across time to the Reverend Doctor King, represents so many of the hopes and dreams and values that MLK personified.

When I wrote on this blog about Martin Luther King Day in 2013, I happened to mention of Barack Obama, "He is our president, we should respect him - and not allow the likes of the moron Donald Trump to be so offensive toward him."

My opinion of Mr Trump has not changed. While he will be our president, I believe he represents a clear and present threat to the values that define America, and our duty is to be ever-watchful and act at every instance of transgression by him and his administration of our laws and the civil rights and liberties that have been so hard won over centuries. 

I look forward to the massive national protest sparked by the Women's March on Washington, the day after the inauguration, on Saturday January 21st 2017. Saturday will give voice to those whom Trump has insulted and attacked and attempted to marginalize, and will represent, in numbers expected to be far higher than for those attending the inauguration itself, a repudiation of the hate and fear that have fueled Donald Trump's campaign and cabinet picks so far.

Let us resist and show our strength but let us do so with love and unity and a clearly defined vision of the future. One day, four years from now (or less if impeachment comes), Trump's presidency will be history. He will cause grave damage, no doubt, but he represents the last of the dinosaurs. The generations rising up ahead are already multicolored and multifaceted and filled with ideals and hopes that bear no relation to the Old World fear-mongering and divisiveness of Donald Trump.

Let's celebrate Martin Luther King Day as the extraordinary event it has always been: a day honoring a man who went so far beyond what the majority of us are ever able to achieve and changed forever how Americans - and how people across the globe - interact with each other. His dream is perhaps the most widely heard and spoken dream ever voiced. It lives on today. Shout it from the mountaintops, from the city streets, from the beaches and bayous and deserts...and from the Mall in Washington, DC. We will hold hands together and we will be free.