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Last week, the blog included "The idea that everyone should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin" in a list of "25 People, Places and Things Liberals Love to Hate." It encourages beneficiaries to rely on ethnicity rather than self-improvement to get ahead," wrote the author, George Leef. In the latest issue of the Weekly Standard magazine, the quote appears in the lead of a book review titled "The Price Was High: Affirmative Action and the Betrayal of a Colorblind Society."Ĭonsidering race as a factor in affirmative action keeps the wounds of slavery and Jim Crow "sore and festering. King's quote has become a staple of conservative belief that "judged by the color of their skin" includes things such as unique appeals to certain voter groups, reserving government contracts for Hispanic-owned businesses, seeking more non-white corporate executives, or admitting black students to college with lower test scores.
#Mlk i have a dream speech skin#
King gave a brilliant and moving quotation, and I think it says we should not be treating people differently on the basis of skin color." "Nobody thinks it doesn't really mean what it says because Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. "The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal," Clegg says.
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In years past, he says, America may have needed to grow into the words, but today they must be obeyed to the letter. The quote is like the Declaration of Independence, says Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that studies race and ethnicity. That takes a lot of "psychological work," she says, adding, "He's really challenging us."įor many conservatives, the modern meaning of King's quote is clear: Special consideration for one racial or ethnic group is a violation of the dream.
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balcony opens to public for 1st time in years MLK III "honored" Obama will take oath on father's Bible."To remember that we all have to stretch ourselves to build the ties that bind a democracy, which really is the source of our strength," Branch says. "Unfortunately race in American history has been one area in which Americans kid themselves and pretend to be fair-minded when they really are not," says Branch, whose new book is "The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement."īranch believes that today, King would ask people of all backgrounds - not just whites - to deepen their patriotism by leaving their comfort zones, reaching across barriers and learning about different people. Today, Branch says, even though prejudice is widely denounced, many people unconsciously pre-judge others. The meaning of King's monumental quote is more complex today than in 1963 because "the unconscious signals have changed," says the historian Taylor Branch, author of the acclaimed trilogy "America in the King Years."įifty years ago, bigotry was widely accepted. "We live in a society where we may have differences, of course, but we learn to celebrate these differences." "When he talked about the beloved community, he talked about everyone bringing their gifts, their talents, their cultural experiences," she says. "Now what does that mean when you have 50 million people living in poverty?"īernice King doubts her father would seek to ignore differences. "What my father is asking is to create the climate where every American can realize his or her dreams," he says.