Remembering a dream, forty years later

Forty years after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the dream continues to elude the reality. America has made remarkable progress, for sure, but there is still a long way to go.  

So was the mood in the air yesterday as about 30 people gathered in the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture to watch a recording of King's speech.

Ben Reese, interim vice president for institutional equality, showed the film, which covered the entirety of King's speech and included a brief section on the years before his death. A discussion followed the 20-minute film. 

"There are smaller and smaller numbers of people who are involved with working to fulfill the dream," Reese said. "I hope it's not because we don't feel that either the dream is fulfilled or that we're not personally responsible for carrying out the dream of Martin Luther King." 

  The sounds of the 300,000-strong who marched on Washington Aug. 28, 1963, singing "We Shall Overcome Some Day" filled the room as Reese began the film. Soon there was King, speaking before blacks and whites, men and women, adults and children, united in hope and resolve. The video--narrated by Peter Jennings--continued, highlighting the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.; poet James Baldwin's fiery reaction; King's assassination and funeral; and Robert Kennedy's speech on King. 

Reactions from the audience--a true mix of races and nationalities--ranged from frustration to pain to optimism. Most agreed that definite progress has been made since King's speech, but that there is still room for improvement.

"In one sense, seeing this film really ages me, because I was in that crowd somewhere on a backpack one of my parents was wearing," said Jonathan Gerstl, director of Jewish Life. "But it makes me think of the Hebrew concept of tikun olam--making the world a better place. It reminds me that we have lots of diverse components on campus, but we don't interact."  

Adam Sarpong, visiting his sister Ayesha, a first-year medical student, said he's grateful for what King, Jr. did, having come to the United States from west Africa at age 11. 

"I've faced a lot of discrimination, but it's more or less mental, not so much that someone will come up to me and say, 'I hate you,'" he said. "We still have a long way to go. There is a lot of ignorance in this country--we are quick to judge a person before they speak. We have to get to know each other as people." 

Curt Blackman, a coordinator for graduate recruitment and minority programs, said Americans need to replace the dichotomy of black and white with a unifying sense of "Americanness." 

"The very basic problem is that black Americans have not accepted their whiteness, and white Americans have not accepted their blackness," Blackman said. "You realize that there is a certain quality, a certain 'Americanness' that a lot of Americans have not embraced. Until that partition can come down, it will be hard to fulfill the dream."  

Doris Jordan, staff assistant at the Kenan Institute of Ethics, said she feels Duke needs more black leaders on campus.  

"As a Duke employee, I'm finding that most black people are in front-line-type jobs," Jordan said. "It would make a huge difference to have more blacks in leadership positions."