Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2010)
Page 38 f t M artin L uther K ing J r , 2010 sp e c ia l edition C h a se & W eil, L L P Salutes Martin L uther Jr. Gerald M. Chase R ichard L. Weil A tto rn e ys at L a w 62 1 SW Alder. Suite 600 Portland O regon 97205-3621 Phone 503-294-1414 Experiences For A ~ Jjfetime R emembering Martin Luther King, Jr. B rooks S taffing A Division of S. Brooks & Associates, Inc. A Full Service Staffing Company Brooks Staffing 503.284.7930 1130 NE Alberta Street Portland, Oregon 97211 Fax: 503.284.7977 www.sbrooks.com jobs @ sbrooks.com January 13, 2010 From King The sobering realities of a dream Before King's name had be come a household name, there was a genuine disagreement among those seeking to address the plight of African Americans. Booker T. W ashington, a by J ake T homas noted educator and college ad T he P ortland O bserver ministrator who preceded King, Barack Obama stood be called on blacks to accom m o fore an exuberant crowd of date whites while working to thousands in Hyde Park on a ward their self betterment. Oth balmy November night in Chi ers, like W.E.B. Du Bois, took cago after ha vi ng just shattered a markedly different approach, aglassceilingthatmanythought calling blacks to challenge was unbreakable. whites on all grounds. Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose After King's death in 1968, generation helped pave the way the civil rights movement was for the historic event, teared up left fragmented, and many of as the crowd stood captive. the fault lines in black American But while a nation built on the became more pronounced, ac backs’ of slaves has given a cording to Flemming. And as a black man its top post, many new generation of African African Americans are still en American leaders won elective tangled with same set of prob office, they found themselves lems that confronted pervious confronted with an unexpected generations. set of realities that further di B lacks are poorer than their vorced them from the condi white counterparts, live shorter tions of ordinary blacks. lives, are more likely to be sick, The extensive interviews with more likely to be incarcerated, black elected officials, which and are more likely to die a include former Senator Carol violent death. M oseley B raun and Rep. How is it that more than 40 Eleanor Holmes Norton, reveal years after King led a move that many worry that i f they fight ment that reshaped the con for social programs and other tours of the nation's concep initiatives directly relevant to tions ot justice that these prob their black constituents they will lems seem as deeply entrenched appear irrelevant with their less- as ever? How is it that the U.S. sympathetic white colleagues, can elect a black man as presi causing them to lose political dent, and produce more black clout and campaign funds. millionaires than any other coun Fleming also notes that the try, but still have such a large media has a tendency to identify number of African Americans "leaders" in the African Ameri facing such sobering realities? can community, many of whom Historian Cynthia Griggs have thin connections to the ac Fleming attempts to answer tual community^ further exacer these questions in "Yes we Did? bating the phenomenon. From King-'s Dream to Obama's O f particular interest, is the Promise" (University of Ken chapter on the generational di tucky Press.) vide between older African Based on numerous inter A m erican, which includes views with elected black offi prominent people in business cials and a sharp awareness of and politics, and the “hip hop events that sculpted black generation’’, whom Fleming America, Fleming seems to sug suggests, are apolitical, chau gest that there are few genuine vinistic, andalmostentirely cen black leaders, but, instead, tered on the quickly accumulat "leading blacks." Shepointsout ing ad flaunting wealth. that the crusade for the i mpro ve- While, "Yes We Did?" pro ment of the lives of African vides an interesting narrative of Americans has always been far the development o f black lead- from monolithic. ership in the U.S., it seems in-