UNITED STATES—Hard to believe that on Monday, January 20, we are to celebrate the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in cold blood back in 1968 almost 60 years ago. This was a man unlike any other man in this world, point, blank and period.

There is not another individual who can compare to him. I learned some interesting things recently about Dr. King as I did some history digging. I didn’t know he spoke at Gross Pointe High School in Gross Pointe, MI not too long before he was assassinated, three weeks later. Why does this matter?

I am a native of Michigan and I never knew this. However, it was what I learned during Dr. Kings journey to the high school that baffled me. The level of security this man had to have was unbelievable. The Police Chief at the time in Gross Pointe sat on Dr. Martin Luther King’s lap as he was taken to the school because there was a concern that he would be assassinated, people were protesting outside of the school. They wanted to do harm to Dr. King and for what? His charisma, his ability to get people to look up to him. This man was despised and hated and the big question I have to ask is WHY? Why did someone hate this man who only wanted to unify the country and focus on equity for all races across the board. Prior to the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 race relations in the United States was beyond vicious. It was vitriol and just hateful. Yes, I can talk about Emmett Till, and so many more horrific things that transpired in the United States and the South. You had this notion of Separate, but Equal, but it wasn’t true. African-Americans could not vote in the South, if they tried they had to pay a fee/tax to vote or pass a literacy test to even cast a ballot to vote.

When my grandmother shared that with me it baffled me to the core. I couldn’t believe it, but that was what was happening in the United States of America. The reason I am bringing this up is I think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 and how it galvanized this country and just seeing some of the pictures and video of all those people in Washington D.C. to listen to that iconic speech that changed this country as we know it.

I don’t know what it was about the 60s, but it seemed like so much violence and assassinations of political figures transpired that year. You had the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, there was the assassination of Malcolm X, there was the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968 prior to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.

This country or people who may have been idealized instead of embracing change and new perspectives wanted to take those individuals out. Dr. King in his iconic speech noted that he hoped one day to see a world where he wanted to see the end of racism in this country.

Where he hoped one day that “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.”

Can that actually happen? Will it ever transpire? I don’t know, I wish I could say yes, but it is 2025 and it feels like we still haven’t seen the progress even after all that mess that unfolded with George Floyd during the midst of the pandemic in June 2020. We are a country that judges people based on how they look. We always have and I feel like we always will. It would be nice to see a colorblind country which I feel Dr. King wanted all of us to do, but we haven’t gotten there yet. He gave that speech about equality, unity and peace in 1963. That is over 60 years ago America, 60 freakin’ years and while some progress has been made it is NOT ENOUGH!

Why can’t we live in a country with equality across the board? Why can’t we live in a country where racism doesn’t exist? Why can’t we live in a country where we treat each other with kindness and respect? Why can’t we live in a country where we are civil with one another despite political differences? Why can’t we live in a country where we are better to one another than those before us? Why can’t we be better America? It’s a choice, we choose not to be better, but if every time Dr. King’s birthday and the federal holiday that we are to CELEBRATE his life and what he stood for is ignored, what are we doing here? That is the question people have to ask themselves.

If there was one wish I could be granted it is the opportunity to meet Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He possessed a level of charisma that I don’t think any other American can come close to touching. His focus on nonviolence, while being met with violence says so much about his persistent goal of wanting better for this country than what he experienced and what his children experienced and what he hoped his kids as they got older, and their kids wouldn’t have to experience.

I would have loved, just loved, to be in the presence of Dr. King as he gave his “I Have a Dream Speech” and the close to a million people who attended to listen to what he had to say. That was far before my time, but there is no question, it is the greatest speech, full of hope, transparency and passion than anything that has ever been delivered in this country.

Challenge me on that, I want you to challenge me and find a better speech. With that said, Dr. King’s birthday has come and gone, but I challenge every single American to be better than what they have in the past.

Before you cast a stone and judge someone, walk in their shoes, imagine being them, imagine living their life or their struggles and then you can truly judge them, but remember be careful of throwing stones at a glass house, because you can be seen. Dr. King, if only you knew how much you are missed and your tutelage from the past is needed more today than ever before.