The question was posed on a special program by Oprah honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and the words he shared 45 years ago that changed the course of history.
Although this article comes after the holiday in which we publicly celebrated the life and works of Dr. King, the question points more specifically to how consciously we will live each day. It calls upon communities across America, and beyond, to consider ways in which we can expressly value character above all else and to turn those thoughts and ideas into actions that improve life quality for everyone.
Dr. King challenged Americans to find out how we are more alike than different. Oprah’s research produced several life lessons, including what one African American woman in New York learned as she set out to preserve the memory of her ancestors. To determine her true ancestry, this woman took a DNA test…and received surprising results. The test revealed that she was 28 percent European. She thought that had to be impossible! Then, one day a man called her. He was a (Caucasian) retired cattle rancher and was calling to introduce himself…to his long-lost cousin! As it turns out, in 2005, the man submitted a DNA test to a worldwide database, hoping to find people who shared his last name. The database revealed that his grandfather and her grandmother shared a last name and a link through blood!
Another poignant part of Oprah’s program reminded us of the hatred and violence in the mid 60s, in this case in Jacksonville, Florida, when four young white men set out looking for trouble, and simply decided to kill a black person! Across town, Johnnie Mae Chappell, a 35-year-old housekeeper and mother of 10, was walking home from work. "They just slowed down and shot Mrs. Chappell to death with a single shot from a .22-caliber revolver," says a former detective sergeant. "It was probably a good 10 miles to the nearest facility that would accept her. She couldn't go to a “white” hospital. And she bled to death. That was her cause of death." This sergeant and his partner arrested the suspects, got full confessions and found the murder weapon. Still, charges against three of the four men were completely dropped. Outraged, he demanded answers from his bosses, and soon after he was fired. Johnnie Mae’s husband worked day and night to support his children, but the authorities said because he was gone so much, he was unfit as a parent and the children were sent to several different foster homes. Today the sergeant has reconnected with Johnnie Mae’s children and, together, they have taken their story all the way to the U.S. Justice Department, and they say they won't stop until Johnnie Mae's case is reopened and federal charges are brought against the men alleged to be involved in the murder. "Dr. King had a dream," her youngest son said. "He has laid out the road map to justice.” This is a real life situation that is over 40 years old and, finally, today, has the opportunity to see justice served.
As we celebrated Dr. King’s legacy throughout our community, through service projects, education, and community gatherings, I was privileged to be invited by our local NAACP to speak at Prescott Elementary School on Sunday afternoon. I shared that, as Dr. King said, “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” During the past year, Dubuque realized success on so many fronts, yet sadly, it also was a year marked by several violent and hateful acts. While differing from the examples in Oprah’s special program, they served to remind us, all too acutely, that we cannot become complacent in our quest for peace, and that education, communication, and understanding between and among our cultures is something about which we must be vigilant.
As our community struggled through some of these recent challenges, some people asked, “How can these things happen in an All-America City?” I reminded them then, and reiterated to the crowd at Prescott on Sunday, that Dubuque was NOT named an All-America City because we are a perfect community. In fact, we earned this distinction for how we choose to respond to challenges…by coming together as a community, identifying challenges, and working together to overcome them!
When we, as a community, stumble on the path to becoming that which we are meant to be, we must pause, acknowledge the problem, and rise above it. As Dubuque moves forward to heal the hurts of the recent past, it is fitting to recall the wisdom of Dr. King when he said, “That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.”
The time is right in Dubuque! As we begin to observe the City’s 175th anniversary this year, and as we consciously respond to the question of how Dr. King’s dream will live in us, let us proudly hold up the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service…and continue marching, as one community, toward a destiny of which Dr. King would be proud!