Fifty Years Later - August 28, 1963

Thinking back fifty years to the March on Washington brings sad memories of a dream lost. Or more accurately, a dream stolen.  The dogs and water hoses have been replaced by the Patriot Act, pepper spray and tear gas. The faces of the new police force are obscured in riot gear. Often they hide their names to avoid their victims complaining about their brutality.  At least we all knew it was Bull Connor perpetrating the brutality in the ‘60s.

The war on poverty has been lost to the rich bankers and Wall Street hedge fund brokers. Democracy has been lost to Citizens United, the Koch brothers, the political action committees not having to reveal their identities and politicians too afraid to vote against the money men who fund their campaigns.

Activists like Malcolm X, Daniel Ellsberg and even Martin would likely be labeled as terrorists and be “detained” in today’s world.  The “freedom riders” would be serving long prison terms in the “prison industrial” complex. The soldier reporting the My Lai massacre could face the same treatment Bradley Manning has faced.

Christians, Muslims and other religious types have forgotten the messages of love and tolerance and replace them with fanaticism, intolerance and hate towards any group unlike them. Their charity comes at a price. Their hope of spiritual afterlife requires the secret handshake. All others are the enemy. All others must convert or pay the price for their heresy.

The patriarchal rule must be protected even if it means the rape, battering and enslavement of mothers and daughters. Religions remain the flame that fans the global wars killing billions. They are the self-appointed keepers of morality professing their love of life while using violence to thin the herd.  Their leaders feel entitled to worshipping flocks and immune from prosecution whenever they violate a member of the flock.

America elected a black President and got one more puppet of the rich.  The “hope” has turned to despair. The reality has been, even as the man carries out the bidding of the masters of war, masters of money and masters of power, his color has caused the overt return of Jim Crow. Voter suppression laws flourish in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed. The bigots openly talk about the need to have fewer voters come to the polls rather than encourage full participation in the alleged democracy.

The media has long ago been bought by corporate interests to carry out their agenda. Independent media may have more outlets but lives in relative obscurity as mindless reality programming and constant violence permeates every home via the television, internet and Androids. All no longer made in this nation but made and assembled in nations fostering poverty wage workers.  In truth they are slaves of corporations without souls.  The media has indeed become as Marshall McLuhan predicted. It’s the message, doctored as the power brokers demand.

Americans look forward to the first female president but pin their hopes on the wife of a President who pushed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from government assistance and created the labor killing treaties such as NAFTA. But, she has become her own person. Acting as Secretary of State she directed the continuation of foreign policy highlighted by immoral occupations and escalation of drone attacks. She continued the gutless pandering to AIPAC and Zionism while ignoring the apartheid of the Palestinian people.

If Martin and his group of civil rights workers attempted their march today they might very well be denied a permit in many cities just as they were in Selma and Birmingham. They would look out on a nation still taking part in illegal wars, a nation still singling out people of color in its policing and incarceration, a nation with an ever increasing level of poverty….a nation still full of racial hate.

There have been no voices to fill the void left by Martin and Malcolm. No voices to carry out the dream. Only rhetoric without actions. Those who do speak out lose out to concerted efforts to destroy their reputations by a state controlled media.

My generation was going to bring great change but was coopted by the material world and fear. The apathy and hopelessness filters down to the following generations. Basic rights are given away for a false sense of security.  Happiness is a warm gun and popping a pill for whatever causes stress. Kids are not allowed to feel disappointment, lose a game or walk home with friends. Playing must have adults supervising and interfering with every aspect.  Stranger danger and other fears are imposed. Tests are more important than actual learning.

Some say we are the wealthiest nation on the planet. At what price? Most of us are one check away from financial disaster. Debt servitude assures the corporate masters unions will not prevail. Poverty wages and multiple jobs just to survive are no longer the exception. They are the norm. Now our children will either have the doors of colleges shut to them or be in so much debt on graduation they will join the ranks of wage slaves.

This is a dire outlook. And nothing has been said about global warming, pollution and environmental disaster because denial is easier and more convenient. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King talked about a dream but if we don’t wake up that dream will only be a nightmare of delusions and foolishness. I believed in the dream in 1963. After participation in my immoral war, the dream took a big hit. But I thought it could be rescued. 

Fifty years after the march on August 28, 1963 I take solace in those who never quit the struggle for human rights. Despite all the negativity there remains a flame inside that can’t be extinguished by those who have chosen the path of greed and excess because there are humble souls who doggedly carry on.  Despite the despair there remains hope Martin, Malcolm and Gandhi were right to stand up against the riptide of the powerful oligarchy. Or, as Bob Marley sang, “stand up for your rights”.