January 15th is a day to be remembered.

   It is the day tthat Martin Luther King Jr was born; as the most well-known civil rights figure and social activist in American history, he raised public consciousness about racial discrimination and segregation in America. He hoped that in the future the United States would become a place of equality and peace. As he stated in his famous speech “I Have A Dream,” “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

   Some may wonder if that dream of equality is still alive today, and at times, it is hard to tell.

  With the recent stories in the news involving the KKK, white supremacists, and large divides forming in America, the idea of a society rid of racism and inequality is a concept that seems as far away as it did in the thirties and forties. NAACP Metuchen-Edison President Reginold Johnson believes we aren’t anywhere closer to equality.

   “Hell no,” he said. “Everytime we have a positive experience it is replaced with a negative experience. The past is not dead, it is not even the past. We’ve moved from overt to covert racism.”

   This is not  to discredit the progress that has been achieved over the years because we are closer than we ever were before, we just still have a long way to go. Some people still believe Dr. King’s dream is still very much alive, like Glenda Bellis, a New Jersey resident.

  “Absolutely hands down, yes. However, what I hear, what I see, what I read, there’s a lot of racism. We have a long way to go,” Bellis said.

   Reginold Johnson believes that we have to thank Martin Luther King Jr. for truly jumpstarting the movement that has continued to be supported for the past 50 years. According to the Black Lives Matter website, the organization’s “…mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” Much like the Black Lives Matter organization, the NAACP has similar goals.

   “The vision is to ensure a society which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination,” said Mr. Johnson.

   Many groups, including The NAACP and Black Lives Matter, also participate in some type of community service on MLK Day. It is known as “A Day of Service” where people come together to volunteer everywhere from the local soup kitchen to  blood banks. Or they take part in activism, taking part in marches, protesting, or campaigning.

   These are all productive ways to spend the day off, and Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud that this is the way people are commemorating his day.   

  Although America is going down a rocky path, with many hurdles, trying to reach Dr. King’s dream, we must remember the very words of King himself.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”