U.S. presidential inauguration
M.L. King’s dream not achieved yet – panel audience
Obama inauguration only a step toward equal power, respect, say King’s day celebrants
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Oluronke Taiwo sings with the International Tabernacle Choir. Photo: Meghan Harrison
A group of people who gathered Monday night to celebrate the dream of Martin Luther King and the election of Barack Obama made it clear Obama had not yet fulfilled King's dream.
A group of about 250 gathered at the Dalhousie Student Union Building for the panel discussion: Legacy of Hope. They said the event only showed the possibility of realizing King's dream of children growing
up in a nation where they would be "judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin."
From the welcoming address of Dalhousie Vice-President Bonnie Neumann, it was clear there is work to be done within our own community. While Neumann, who administers student services, portrayed Obama as a symbol that King's dream had been achieved, the reaction of audience members to a mistake in her welcoming speech left this statement in doubt.
An awkward start to the evening
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L-R: panelists Shawna Hoyte, Reverend Mutale and Isaac Saney. Photo: Meghan Harrison
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Neumann said much had happened in the 30 years since King gave his "I-have-a-dream" speech. King actually gave this speech 46 years ago.
The comment resulted in noticeable snickers of disapproval from the audience. Much of the panel discussion concerned Dalhousie's ignorance towards the history and needs of its black students. Her mistake in thinking King had given his speech long after he had been assassinated was an awkward opener to a lively evening.
"Obama isn't the fulfillment of King's dream," said Nena Watson, Dal Master's student and vice-president of the Dalhousie Black Students Association. "It is just a step in the right direction. People think because he achieved this everything is OK. The majority of African Americans, African Canadians, African Nova Scotians -- we aren't going to see any tangible change."
'Dal has a lot of work to do'
According to Black Student Advisor Oluronke Taiwo, the Dalhousie campus needs to improve the way it deals with black students.
"Many of us are made to feel like failures, like we could never succeed," says Taiwo. "Obama shows us that everything is possible. But will it happen? I think Dal has a lot of work to do to help out its black citizens. They need to employ more blacks; they need to put more blacks in positions of power; there need to be more blacks in university. Like at King's there are not very many black students, are there?"
Taiwo believes education was critical in Obama becoming president and hopes that his success will encourage black students to pursue their education.
"He gave our youth hope. Now we have to help them make something out of it."
Socio-economic change needed next
Panel member Isaac Saney, a professor in Dalhousie's Transition Year Program, explained that black leaders becoming elected does not mean they speak out on behalf of their communities.
He pointed out that when Martin gave his speech on August 28, 1963, there were 103 elected black officials in the United States. Now there are more than 10,000.
But by many socio-economic measurements, black communities are worse off than they were before the civil rights movement.
"Political change means nothing without socio-economic change," said Saney. He went on to explain that King's legacy has been distorted over the years.
In the five years before his death, his views became closer to that of Malcolm X in his criticism of Western imperialism.
On April 4, 1967, he gave his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which had a significantly different tenor than his 1963 address. He called for a fundamental reversal of the social order.
Saney pointed out that Obama does not seem to share this same desire.
Future in hands of both leaders and communities
As it became clear that the panel did not believe King's dream had been realized with Obama's election, an audience member asked the panel what it would take for them to believe that society had changed its beliefs on race.
Dalhousie Legal aid lawyer Shawna Hoyte responded by saying that "things will have changed when I no longer get calls from parents about their children being discriminated against. Things will have changed when black students can get the jobs they are qualified for. Things will have changed when people of colour are in positions of power throughout local and federal government."
She feels hopeful that changes like this can happen and acknowledges that much has improved since she attended Dal in 1974.
King's Foundation Year Professor El Jones read her poem "Hope Is" in which she places her faith in black community leaders and their work within the community.
She saw hope in Shawna Hoyte's work as a social worker, Isaac Saney's work with struggling black students in the transition year program, in Dal student Janissa Browne and her work with the Dalhousie Caribbean society.
Browne placed her faith in the black community rather than its leaders, as she explained in a booming voice:
"We have to do this ourselves. We must teach our children morals and make them excellent. We can't wait for our leaders to do it for us or it will not get done."
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