Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that America is essentially an idea. He was right, and that idea is most beautifully and poetically captured in the words of the Declaration cited by Dr. King in his 1963 speech in Washington — “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
I was honored yesterday to be invited to a luncheon at Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist Church honoring Dr. Barry C. Black, the chaplain of the U.S. Senate. And as I observed civic and political leaders of different parties, philosophies and races breaking bread together, it was refreshing to realize that in 2008 we have an African-American as Secretary of State from one party and an African-American who is a legitimate candidate for President in another Party. And both of them have many more opponents who are upset with their ideas than with their skin color!
We have not yet arrived at Dr. King’s color-blind society, but we are closer. Some time this week every American should watch this video and renew their commitment to an America where “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
