Fifty-Years Later - Equality and Justice Still Evade Many Blacks in America

Fifty-years-ago today, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His non-violent movement to spur civil and human rights to the American Black, was dealt a blow.

Yet, Dr. King, even in death, triumphed as many civil rights restrictions placed upon Blacks in America were legally removed. The vote was gained, education became wider as inter-state commerce opened up. Blacks gained a few favorable positions in government and industry, thus paving the way for Barack Obama to become the 44th President of the United States.

But today, full justice and equality still elude many Blacks in America. Too many innocent unarmed Black men are shot and killed by police, many of whom are not held responsible for the deaths. Too many Blacks remain incarcerated for crimes that whites are not jailed for. Economic opportunity remains absent in too many Black neighborhoods. Too few Black executives run major companies in America. A token Black, with non-Black views, occupy a Supreme Court seat and a lone cabinet position within the Donald Trump administration.

So fifty-years after Dr. King's death at the age of 39, some said racial practices condoned in the 1960s, remain a reality of today's America. "We shall overcome someday" must be defined as now is the hour. 

Hence, the question posed today in going forward to full justice and equality is: will the final push and movement for justice and equality resemble Dr. King's non-violence or not?