They Had A Dream and Now Its Ours

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo credit: MLKonline.com

Today is Martin Luther King Day, as I'm sure you all know. Unless you are racist and choose not to recognize this day, in which case I'm gonna have to ask you to stop reading my blog and never ever contact me. Ever.
Anyway. Dr. King was an exceptional man, truly deserving of a day.
I can't help but bring up some of his points though. King obviously was the focal point of the civil rights movement, we all know that. I was brought up on his non-violence practices, and have marched in memorial day parades since I was old enough to walk. But he wasn't just a fighter against racial injustice. He spoke about many other things, like the need to reduce poverty. 12% of our population today lives in dire poverty, and we can't ignore it. When he was alive, Dr. King proposed a 30 million dollar package and extensive low-income housing to help homeless, single parents, blacks that were being forced out of jobs, etc, but the bill never got passed and is rarely known about. Dr. King also brought the issue of mental health into the light, and this was back in the '60s. There is still nothing being done about it. Social workers who work with the mentally disabled and challenged work under a low pay grade, and rarely have benefits. Help is expensive and so are mental health hospitals, check ups, psychiatrists, physical rehabilitation workers. Its an issue we definitely need to work on.
Thats all for the heavy stuff guys. I hope you enjoyed your day off if you had it, and took a moment to remember a man who really helped change America.
Love to all,
Maren