The Dreamer

On April 4, 1968, forty years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. The Dreamer was dead. Something died in all of us that day. I was 22, living in Vancouver, BC and just beginning to form some of the activist ideals that would stay with me to this day. I had watched the Civil Rights struggle from so many miles and so many worlds away. I was the colour of the oppressor but identified with the oppressed. I was ashamed of my colour and ashamed of myself for sitting back and doing nothing to correct so obvious a wrong.

The assassinations of John, Martin and Bobby in such a short period of time changed everything forever. Simple idealism was no longer enough. Dedication to a cause suddenly became much more of a commitment than before and the “Right Wing Conspiracy” was no longer just a theory.

The Dreamer is dead but the Dream is alive. We see it every day lately in people like Obama and others. The first tentative steps have been taken but there is so far yet to go…..