Five days before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated he told entertainment legend Harry Bellafonte “I believe I’ve led my people into a burning house.” Dr. King said that in the early days of the civil rights movement the focus was on breaking down the divisive walls of segregation. Which meant having equal access to public accommodations. But what substantial difference did that really make when the protesters don’t have money to afford to partake of the material prosperity after the doors of public accommodations were opened? It was when Dr. King began advocating for economic inclusion and justice that the powers that be moved to get rid of him.
In 2024 where are we? Are we in a burning house only to see where a few are prosperous while the teeming masses continue to suffer? Where’s the real support for reparations? Groups have put forth very astute research about what needs to be done. But in the final analysis who’s going to make the institutions etc who benefited from our demise pay for the harms done? This is an election year have you heard national candidates utter a word about reparations? Many groups have received reparations but the offsprings of the descendants of the Maafa haven’t received ANYTHING but more studies.
Beloved winter will be coming again. What about the number of homeless people who have died because they have no shelter We’ve definitely had leaders such as Evangelist Ester Holzendorf along with others who’ve been on the front line challenging the local powers to utilize the funds that have been provided to bring the homeless in from these death like freezing conditions.
“The House is burning CMG Contributor Keith Brown
