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Fulfilling Dr. King’s Dream is a lot Harder than Making George Jetson’s Vision Come True in the 21st Century

LatinaLista — In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now famous I Have a Dream speech. It wasn’t just words on paper, but passion in motion. Because of that, those words inspired a generation to see the future differently, fraught with possibilities and potential.

Also in 1963, five short months before Dr. King delivered his historic vision of the future another catalyst for changing a generation’s perception of tomorrow, aired its final show — The Jetsons.
Though the animated show would go on to live in syndication and movies, the ½ hour cartoon about a family who lived in the 21st century amid technology that was out of this world, excited a generation, and subsequent ones, with dreams of space travel, rocket packs, “homework disks” and all the possibilities limited only by our imaginations.
Fast-forward to 2008, 45 years later, and we see that as a society, we are well on track to fulfill the Jetson’s vision of the future.
Yet, we can’t seem to get two steps ahead without falling five steps behind in fulfilling Dr. King’s hopes.


There are examples everywhere that much of the technology that the Jetsons used are now a part of our everyday lives, to the point that it’s become mundane. From space travel to flashdrives, robots and video telephones, the dreams stirred in 1963 have become today’s reality.
This point is heavily underscored with news of the latest technological achievements reminiscent of the Jetson’s car. The first takes the car-within-a-car concept popularized by the cartoon onto Suzuki’s assembly line sometime into the future.
The second example based on futuristic travel is a car that doesn’t whiz through space but it does dazzle with how it opens its doors. No clunky DeLorean style that pulls up like an awkward bird’s wing. This door disappears.
For now, its makers call it the Disappearing Car Door and like the Jetson’s car, the door seems to fade into the body of the vehicle.
On the technological front, it’s clear we’ve been pretty faithful to the Jetson blueprint.
However, on a day when parades and speeches are invoking the memory of what Dr. King said, there is evidence that though technologically advanced, 21st century America is still mired in the primitivity of hate, prejudice and inequality that spurred Dr. King to pen his infamous speech in the first place.
In public schools throughout the nation, those that are heavily attended by children of color are the ones most in need. They routinely lack: experienced teachers, updated equipment, enough textbooks, and a safe environment. All too often, these campuses are also frequently overcrowded.
In all schools, children of color are disproportionately disciplined/suspended or sent to an alternative campus. And campuses are becoming increasingly segregated.
Racial profiling is still a reality. Parts of towns considered minority enclaves receive the least economic development, and slowest response from city officials when it comes to calls for help or assistance.
In hospitals, a Kaiser Health Disparities Report found evidence published by USA TODAY that it took longer for blacks and Latinos to be seen in emergency rooms than white patients.
And outright acts of hate still exist.

Texas marchers walk to support Latino family victimized by hate crimes.
(Source: star-telegram.com)
Yesterday (Sunday, Jan. 20) in Benbrook, Texas , fifty people assembled in a rural, upscale neighborhood to march in support of the neighborhood’s only Latino family who has been targeted by a series of hate crimes.
During the march, the group sang a verse of We Shall Overcome when a neighbor came out and demanded, “What’s the problem? What are you marching for?”
Some of the marchers yelled back, “If you don’t know, then that’s a problem.”
How ironic that it is far easier to solve complex technological problems than what appears to be the core problem at the heart of Dr. King’s unfulfilled vision — a lack of empathy.
If only there had been a cartoon about this to show us the way.

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Comment(30)

  • Maldonado
    January 21, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    Malcolm X: “He got the peace prize, we got the problem…. If I’m following a general, and he’s leading me into a battle, and the enemy tends to give him rewards, or awards, I get suspicious of him. Especially if he gets a peace award before the war is over.”

  • Oscurito
    January 21, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    Why we don’t have a Malcolm X day?

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 22, 2008 at 11:27 am

    Please, go to martinlutherking.org and meet the real man. Can’t see why the government granted him such holiday status.

  • Texano78704
    January 22, 2008 at 11:41 am

    Jim Crow is gone, only to be replaced with more insidious forms of institutional racism.
    Why don’t we have a Malcolm X day? Because he was an American Black Muslim minister. Just saying the ‘m’ word makes people freak out these days.

  • Maldonado
    January 22, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    Oscurito: “Why we don’t have a Malcolm X day?”
    Are you kidding? The honkys are scared enough with MLK.
    When Aztlan becomes a nation-state we will have a Malcolm X day.
    :0

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 22, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    Where is Assland exactly? No map I have come across speaks of such a place and any Web search only displays a whimsical make- believe place dreamed up by racially radical groups that somehow believe a portion of the United States of America still belongs to them. When a nation is openly challenged by an invading force, that nation has all rights to defend it’s citizens and protect it’s sovereignty as a nation. Got it?
    MLK left his mark on American history and only those foolish enough to believe he was some sort of savior continue to honor his plagiarized writings, his claims of being a doctor, his claims of being a reverend and a man that pulled the wool over the eyes of most of the world. The Obama of his time.

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 22, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Why don’t we have a Washingtons Birthday Holiday or a Lincolns Birthday holiday any more? These two holidays were rolled into one called Presidents day in honor of all U.S. Presidents. There is a strong movement afoot to change MLK Day to Civil Rights Day to honor all those that were a factor in the civil rights movement. Sounds fair to me, since everything today has to be so damn politically correct.
    As for your Muslim Malcolm X, that was one radical racist being followed by a herd of sheeple too stupid to realize they were being lead to slaughter. He would not be so tolerated in the world of today, just as he was not so tolerated back then.

  • Maldonado
    January 22, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    Please, go to martinlutherking.org and meet the real man. Can’t see why the government granted him such holiday status.
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHA
    HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
    HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
    wHITE tRASH paleez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  • The United States of America
    January 22, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    Ojos de Tejas: “As for your Muslim Malcolm X, that was one radical racist being followed by a herd of sheeple too stupid to realize they were being lead to slaughter. He would not be so tolerated in the world of today, just as he was not so tolerated back then.”
    Muslin, Christian… same SHIT. But I like Sheeple. 🙂
    Malcolm X was “tolerated” as you put it but he was, unfortunately, a leader in the same respect as Jack Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and King Jr.
    But I like sheeple (as I said).
    That is funny.

  • Maldonado
    January 22, 2008 at 2:28 pm

    Blah: “No map”
    I got a map. I got lots of “maps.”
    dumb girl. (edited by Latina Lista editor)

  • Maldonado
    January 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    AH! you shameless hussy. need you be edited?
    i reckon si, i mean yes. now behave. or ill spank you. i mean give you unas nalgadas.
    jajajajaja
    what a happy thought.
    for the present, i am installing gallery2, full umm PACKAGE LooL
    dont get excited.
    meanwhile, i got maps. i got more maps than cartez has pildoras.
    lol
    http://www.burlingtonnews.net/map.html
    http://www.burlingtonnews.net/map.html
    BIG map:
    1847 Disturnell Map
    google that. your own u.s. government used it.
    now behave, potty fingers.
    p.s. do you have any MEXICAN in you?
    😉

  • Frank
    January 22, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    No one can have Mexican in them. Mexican is a nationality not a race or a genetic thing.

  • Evelyn
    January 23, 2008 at 3:07 am

    I Googled earth and found that assland is exactly wherever you are standing. Your presence makes it assland!
    Seeing the only thing you have to contribute to this forum is your ignorance, I know you wouldn’t be able to read a map even if you had one.
    I thought maby by rubbing your nose in Dr. Martin Luther Kings Doctorate Degree from Boston University he earned in 1955 might make you less dumb. But than I thought better, because you would only dirty it. Ugh!
    You really came out to us, white sheets, dunce hat, low IQ, burning cross and all.
    Beings like you are so far from ever reaching 1 of the accomplishments of great men like King and Obama. The closest you will ever get to these great men is maby having the honor of kissing the ground they walk on. Now go on and keep eating trash.

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 23, 2008 at 9:26 am

    Really, you need to pull your head out of your past and realize this is 2008, not 1847. A lot has come and gone over time and the world has reshaped itself many times over again. What once was remains in the past forever and no amount of wishful thinking can ever bring it back. So, your reference to a long outdated map from days gone by does not support any existence of your fantasy land. Everything north of the Rio Grande is now the good ole U.S. of A. and will remain so, no matter what a bunch of delusional people have been taught to believe.
    By the way, your attempts to expose my gender is futile and could become very embarrassing to you in the future.

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 23, 2008 at 10:55 am

    So elequently stated once again from someone with their own racial agenda and a very poor judge of men. Maybe that’s why you come off so angry, it’s not the issues, it’s your hatred of men in general.
    King was a womanizer, plagiarist and an overall shadey character with ties to elements of communism, if you care to look into his background a little bit. For Obama, Muslim, attends a church with a minister that is a true racist and his greatness is a creation of the media. Before a little over a year ago, nobody even knew who he was, outside the state of Illinois.
    The only trash being digested here is the trash you keep serving up.

  • Evelyn
    January 23, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Gee you mean your buddies with the white sheets covering their faces haven’t found any new lies to demonize EDUCATED BLACK MEN with, my mother tells me those are the same lies those disgusting beings were using back in her day also!

  • Frank
    January 24, 2008 at 7:48 am

    EOT, I have seen plenty of videos and pictures of reconquistas with bandanas covering their faces carrying racists signs against Whites, haven’t you? Perhaps we should post some of them here.
    It doesn’t matter if it is White racism or Brown racism. It’s all the same and just plain wrong.

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 24, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    All I did was point out a website (martinlutherking.org) which reveals that he was not the same person in his personal life as the person he tried to project in public. The man that has been honored with such greatness was educated enough to know what to say to make people believe he was some sort of savior. I only see him as a man with a way with words. Nothing more.
    Yes, I’ve seen the reconquistas who cowardly hide their faces and only get their strength in numbers. As individuals, they keep their mouths shut and do not confront any one, but when several are together their gang mentality kicks in and they become all big and bad. What a joke.

  • Frank
    January 24, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    And that was my point. Those who keep harping about the KKK and White racism seem to forget that in their own ranks lays Brown racism of which they seem to be in denial about. All racism is wrong.

  • Evelyn
    January 24, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    Eyes I did some research and found that your Martin Luther King website is hosted by Stormfront! This is a website created by Don Black, out of West Palm Beach, Florida. One of the first hate websites on the Internet, it has links to hate groups all over the world.
    Don Black the leader of Stormfront says his idea of “white Pride” involves demeaning, demonizing, and menacing Jews, and non whites, and his concept of victory includes the creation of ethnically cleansed political enclaves. That you or anyone would defend such TRASH makes my skin crawl! I pity you!

  • Evelyn
    January 24, 2008 at 8:20 pm

    Frank
    You label me as a “brown racist” because I advocate for justice and equality for all races. So your label of me is incorrect, although I don’t expect you to accept that as truth. You don’t deal much in TRUTH.
    Another thing that strikes me as funny every time I see you tag me with “brown racist” is that I don’t look like my mother, except for my nose and full lips. I look like my Irish father. I am cursed with skin so white that after 15 min. in the sun I burn easily. I have blue eyes and my hair is a mixture of mostly red, with a little brown and blond. Some people ask me what color I dye it, I don’t. So you see your “brown racist” tag of me is shot to hell! LOL!

  • Frank
    January 25, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Evelyn, as I told you before I don’t wish to communicate with you anymore. My remark about “Brown racism” wasn’t directed at you personally. You missed the point entirely. Those who think like you about illegal immigration constantly harp about White racism while being n total denial over the Brown racists in your own group.

  • EYES OF TEXAS
    January 25, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    Only White America can be tagged as racist in the minds of these supporters of illegal aliens. All other ethnically oriented organizations are considered as just people representing and fighting for the rights of their own kind. We are expected to roll over and let the rest of the ethnic groups have their way, say what they want, do what they want and basically degrade American values. We’re not allowed to express White Pride, have a NAAWP, White Berets or anything that promotes a unification of our ethnic group. Sounds pretty ass backwards to me. If, or when, the line is drawn in the sand, you will know which side I will be standing on, just as I know which side you will be standing on. It’s only natural and I will feel no guilt about it. Racism is racism no matter what color it may be.

  • Evelyn
    January 25, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    With your statement, “Those who keep harping about the KKK and white racism.”
    I was the only one who referred to the KKK and white racism several times. I know exactly who you were directing your remarks to.
    Your just mad, because every time I’m attacked the attacks bounce back to the attacker!! LOL!

  • Evelyn
    January 25, 2008 at 5:28 pm

    Eyes
    Which one of the white power groups do you belong to? Are you afraid of going to jail? I ask You this because of the guy from SOS that was picked up on Christmas eve. Half a million dollars bail. He still cant get out!
    Doesnt that scare you? I think his name is Dees.

  • Frank
    January 25, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Too bad there is a reading comprehension problem in here. If the shoe fits then wear it. I don’t wear a white hood or pointy hat. Is there anyone in here that wears a bandana to cover their faces and carries anti-white signs? If so, then those are the Brown racists I am speaking of.

  • Evelyn
    January 26, 2008 at 12:05 am

    Say Frank aka Houdini sssshhhh……how can you see what people are wearing over the net? Can I have the secret please please. LOL! LOL! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!

  • Evelyn
    January 26, 2008 at 12:15 am

    Man Frank I sure hope you can take a joke, i’m just funnin ya.
    If I wear a bandanna to cover my face your gonna have to call me a white racists anyway. So……what do you do now…..????

  • Frank
    January 26, 2008 at 9:44 am

    There is a difference between a non-hispanic white (anglo) and a hispanic white, culturally, ethnically and racially. It would behove someone to clarify their “whiteness” and not lump all whites together.
    I have seen plenty of reconquista videos with their faces covered with bandanas and carrying anti-anglo-white and anti-American signs. Don’t know if anyone in this blog fits that bill but they are no better than the KKK.

  • Evelyn
    January 26, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    I thought you weren’t addressing me anymore, FRANK????

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