Van Jones: Forty Years Gone: MLK's Dream Today Would Be Colored 'Green'

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from HuffPost:




Van Jones
Forty Years Gone: MLK's Dream Today Would Be Colored 'Green'
Posted April 4, 2008 | 03:25 PM (EST)



Forty years ago today, on April 4, 1968, a sniper assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King had come to Memphis, Tennessee, to aid striking sanitation workers. The preeminent civil rights leader of his time, he was only 39 years old.

Four decades have passed since that fateful day. As of this month, Dr. King has been gone from us longer than he was ever here. As we pass this milestone in history, we gather in Memphis to remind ourselves and the world that a bullet killed the dreamer -- but not the dream.

Dr. King had a vision of an America as good as its promise, and a world at peace with itself. That vision lives on in the hearts of hundreds of millions -- including two generations of adults and a rising generation of teenagers, all of whom have been born since Dr. King's passing.

The time has come for us to step forward. We must take full responsibility to advance the cause of justice, opportunity and peace in a new century.

And yet it must be said that we are stepping onto history's stage at a frightening time -- a time of global warming and global war. A time when "the Market" is free, and the people are not. A time of mass incarceration of people, and mass extinction of species. A time of "no rules" for the rich, and "no rights" for the poor. A time of increasing profits for the few, and decreasing options for the many. A time of buyouts and bailouts for the powerful and convictions and evictions for the powerless.

And yet, inside the United States, the tide has begun to turn. The GOP juggernaut that carried the nation to the brink of destruction has begun to run out of gas. Ordinary Americans today are longing for a leader, not a cowboy-in-chief. Some are rethinking consumerism, seeking healthier choices for their families, worrying about oil prices and even the climate crisis.

And just three years after George W. Bush's re-election, the mighty political party that Karl Rove thought would rule America for generations appears to be falling apart at the seams.

...(snip)...

Dr. King linked the solutions of civil rights, peace and economic opportunity. We must link the solutions of social justice, peace and ecological sanity. Our new dream must uplift the people -- and the planet, too. This is the calling of our time.

And so today, four decades later, we seek new fuel to meet new challenges. We seek a world society wherein we use clean, alternative energy sources to fuel our machines... healthy, organic and local food to fuel our bodies ... and hope, solidarity and love to fuel our movements for change.

Because to win over a wounded and frightened nation, our cause itself must become irresistibly beautiful, vital, healing and sustainable. Success will come when our networks are practical enough to "organize" hundreds of thousands -- and soulful enough to "magnetize" tens of millions. So let us dare to imagine: a healthy, joyous, self-confident liberation movement. A movement that celebrates more than it condemns ... inspires more than it critiques ... and solution-izes more than it problem-atizes. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/forty-years-gone-mlks-dre_b_95125.html