Forty Years Gone: MLK's Dream Today Would Be Colored 'Green'
April 4, 2008
Van Jones
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.
Something has shifted -- profoundly. Unfortunately, all the old
political figures, outdated modes of discourse and stodgy
institutions are still with us. But you can feel something exciting
beginning to stir -- and break loose -- underneath.
The future is getting restless. We are on the brink of something
promising and new. And for the first time in more than a generation,
those of us who value living beings over dead products have a chance
to offer real leadership to the country.
Our post-King generations must embrace the example Dr. King set. And
we must reimagine it, to meet new challenges.
For example: in his time, Dr. King worked for equal protection and
equal opportunity. We, too, must adopt that agenda. But ours is an
age of both social crisis and ecological peril. Therefore, we must
insist that vulnerable communities get equal protection from racial
discrimination -- and from the floods, storms, droughts, plagues and
fires that global warming is causing. Equal protection today means:
no more Katrinas!
Ours is also an age of positive economic transformation: billions of
dollars are pouring into the solar, wind, geothermal and other clean
industries. This so-called "green economy" will generate thousands of
business opportunities -- and millions of new jobs. We must guarantee
equal opportunity in this growing green, clean and renewable economy.
We must insist that the coming "green wave" lift ALL boats. Those
low-income communities that were locked out of the pollution-based
economy must be locked into the clean and green economy. Our
communities -- and especially our children -- deserve "green-collar
jobs, not jails."
Dr. King -- and many others -- fought, bled and died to racially
integrate a pollution-based economy. Today, America is creating a
new, clean and green economy. From the start, we must design it to
have a dignified place for everyone.
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.
Imagine a movement for justice -- with its arms wide open.
In these "difficult days," we have a duty to do more than curse the
darkness. We must, ourselves, shine a new light.
That is what Dr. King did. And 40 years later, new generations have
come to Memphis -- bearing lanterns of our own. Through the new
organization, Green For All, I am proud to help sponsor one of the
major MLK celebrations in this city today.
Here and now, we boldly, proudly and loudly declare The Dream ... REBORN.
Van Jones
Founder
Green For All
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Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Community Partnership Coordinator
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249 607-592-8402 Cell
"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
Mohandas Gandhi
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