Friday, August 30, 2013

The Dream & The Arc

This week, we've been looking at the last 50 years of the civil rights movement, along with the way forward for the next 50 years. While we've seen plenty of accomplishments in the past half-century that would make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., proud, there's still far more to do to fulfill the dream. We've been reminded of both this week.

As the rest of the nation was honoring Dr. King's legacy on Wednesday, some on Capitol Hill were playing petty political games. They whined about the lack of conservative/Republican speakers at the official commemoration on Wednesday. Well, why didn't any of them accept the invitation to attend?

And that's not all. As Brian Beutler reported this morning, not even pleas from Republican "leaders" weren’t enough to get them to the Lincoln Memorial! Why was that? Were they just too busy fear-mongering over rumors regarding Cory Booker's sexual orientation?



In this day and age, it's depressing that these kinds of homophobia laced "Girlie Man" personal attacks still exist in our politics today. But on the other hand, it's encouraging that the Democratic US Senate Nominee in New Jersey is taking on the homophobia head-on by tearing down the logical fallacy behind the insult, which is that gay men are not "man enough" to serve their communities and country. Finally, we're starting to see elected leaders break the cycle of institutionalized homophobia and transphobia.

Of course, bigotry still exists. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, religious hatred, and other forms of bigotry still reveal their ugly heads today.

There are many days when we notice the dream under attack. Yet despite the attacks, the dream lives on. And ultimately, the dream succeeds.



While hate remains, love can't be stopped. While bigotry remains, equality can't be killed. The arc of history may be long, but it ultimately bends toward justice.



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