The Black Commentator - Turn the Tide - Martin Luther King Memorial Groundbreaking

Although Monday, November 13 was a dreary, gray day, there were smiles and excitement as people lined up to enter the groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King memorial on the Washington Mall. Though the Secret Service cleared folks at a snail’s pace, spirits and energy was high as people smiled and told each other what a great day it was.

More than two centuries after slaves built the capitol, an African American man and the legacy of the civil rights movement will be featured in the national mall, along with memorials to Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Along with monuments to Vietnam Veterans and World War II veterans, the King memorial will be a tribute to veterans of the civil rights movement who successfully agitated for a seismic change in the way our nation was organized.

The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young shared an emotional moment at the groundbreaking of the King memorial in Washington on Monday. Ambassador Young, caught up in the moment, with his voice breaking, laid his head on Rev. Jackson’s chest, as he exhorted, turn the dirt, turn the dirt, and turn the dirt.

It was a moving moment, an occasion for tears and temperance. It was a phenomenal moment of pain and power, a reminder of the “long arc of history” that Dr. King spoke of so frequently. Moving. Painful. Powerful. Profound. Celebration. Imagination. All of that and more.

Maya Angelou was poignantly on point. Oprah Winfrey was better than I’d ever heard her, placing herself in historical context. She described herself as the blossom of the seed that was planted with King’s work. Such an apt description, such moving words, such a phenomenal connection between her life as a high school child and an assembly that she attended in high school, when, unprepared for an algebra test, Jesse Jackson preached that excellence was the antidote to racism.

William Jefferson Clinton, the president black folk love to love, preached. George W. Bush, the president black folk love to hate, pontificated. Kirk Franklin, the gospel singer black folks love to sway to swayed along with Bubba (also known as Bill Clinton) and smiled. A good time was had by all, good vibes and good feelings.

But for all of the use of Dr. King’s quotes, I kept wondering if anybody really got it. Got the issue of economic justice, that is, in a way that is transformative. For all of the good vibes this event was, more than anything else, a corporate event, chock full of sponsorships, with those sponsorship dollars wagging the tail of the event. Rev. Jackson did not have a prominent speaking role, and others who might have legitimately claimed a place on the program were absent, such as the Rev. Joseph Lowery. What does it mean when Dr. King’s chief lieutenants were prominent on stage but missing in action?

What does it mean when the nation’s top ranking African American official, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, came and went, occupying center stage for as long as her boss, Mr. Bush, spoke, but scurrying away when he left. Wasn’t her connection to the movement strong enough to warrant more than a cameo appearance? Some Republicans remained on stage throughout. Jack Kemp, actually, has done a great job as part of the MLK committee. The former Oklahoma Congressman JC Watts, and the unsuccessful Maryland Senatorial candidate Michael Steele were also on stage with the other hundred or so “who’s who”. Steele was mentioned, for about a moment, as a possible head of the Republican National Committee. After his crippled dream of snatching a Republican Senate seat in Maryland bit the dust, I suppose he ought to be grateful to be considered for anything. Certainly, the Republican establishment that encouraged him to jump in the Maryland race is likely to “take care” of him with a new, visible position. Since Dr. King belonged to all of America, I’m glad that Rice, Steele and Watts were there. Further, I’m inspired by the impassioned plea that Jack Kemp put out for DC statehood, making a more forceful statement on that subject than many African American elected officials have.

Someone told me that if I wrote about this event, I should do so with the same love for the “beloved community” that Dr. King wished for all of us. I wish I could. But an unfortunate aspect of the groundbreaking is the fact that some of us have already lost the dream. Dr. King was about economic justice, but the wealth gap is growing, not shrinking, in this country. Dr. King called for a restructuring of our nation’s economic system, but for the past decade we have had “business as usual” economics, with tax cuts benefiting corporations and the wealthy. Poverty was our nation’s ugly little secret until Hurricane Katrina hit, and even now Katrina survivors have not gotten the relief they deserve.

Erecting a memorial for Dr. King is an important step, but it is only a first step. What really must happen is that we have to restructure the economy along the lines that Dr. King has suggested. Our nation needs to be more committed to the goal of social and economic justice. The Democrats are likely to raise the minimum wage when they take power in January, but after a decade of stagnant wages they must offer more relief than that to the poor.

Ambassador Andrew Young asked the dozens who had shovels to “turn the dirt” at the groundbreaking. In turning the dirt, will we ever turn the tide; turn our economy toward one that is organized in a more just manner? Hopefully a memorial to Dr. King is a motivator and a catalyst, the turning of dirt more than a symbolic gesture to the past, but a step toward creating a future for those who Dr. King had the audacity to believe in.

BC Editorial Board member, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD, is an economist, author, and national commentator, President of The FuturePAC, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of the Economic Policy Institute. Click here to contact Dr. Malveaux.