He came. He asked. He wondered. And disheartened by society’s apathy, he left.
Martin Luther King Jr., that is.
Weaving an imaginative narrative, speaker Juan Williams, delivering the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration lecture, said this is what would happen if King was present between us today.
“Let us join in an act of imagination. Imagine that he [King] comes in, sits next to you and asks you, ‘what’s going on about race in this country?’,” said Williams. “He would have come back to the land of the living dead, where people close their eyes to the reality around them. Keep in mind that King has been gone for 43 years.”
Williams said that while King would certainly be happy to learn that we now have a black president, other facts would lead him to despair.
“Today, we have a black president and a secretary of state, who was previously also the First Lady, a woman. Before her, the secretary was a black woman, and before her, a black man and another woman,” said Williams. “But what is the situation for the black community at large? The overall poverty rate in the country stands at 15 percent, with 25 percent for the blacks. That means one out of every four black people in this country is living below the poverty line.”
Sharing similar statistics with the audience, Williams said that while 29 percent of white children have single mothers, the numbers are as high as 50 percent for the Hispanic, and 70 percent for the black population. This, Williams said, is a major cause for concern.
“It is important for black women to emphasize and stress on the need to build a proper family structure,” Williams said. “You should not ignore its importance for raising your child.”
He also emphasized the need for people to introspect and realize what is good for them. Giving Oprah Winfrey’s example, he said her decision to open schools for poor children in South Africa may not necessarily be without reason.
“Oprah, when she visited schools in America and asked students what they would like, all they would ask her for was to bring them on her show, or to gift them the cars she hands out. But when she went to South Africa, kids there would ask her to build a bigger and better school, they would ask her if she could help them travel the world and learn new languages,” Williams said. “That is why she said she really didn’t have to think twice about why to build schools in South Africa rather than here.”
Giving Bill Cosby’s example, Williams wondered what King would have to say about his comments.
“He may have said something that was not politically correct, but King would have only asked today, ‘Did he lie?’,” he said.
Williams said it is difficult to address issues of race relations in the country largely because of society’s inability to engage in honest, respectful discussions, whether they be about immigrations, terrorism, the budget situation or even race.
“If you’re white and I’m black, and we are having a discussion on race, the whites would say that they don’t want to discuss this, because people might call them a racist. If I do the same, people will say that I’m obsessed with that. They will ask me when, if ever, will I get over it.”
Williams, an editorial writer and op-ed columnist for the Washington Post, and until recently senior news analyst for National Public Radio, said the media plays an important role in educating and informing society, but is not living up to its ideals in the current times.
“Today, newspapers everywhere are in decline, and the sort of investigative, in-depth reporting that was prevalent when I was in college is gone. Eyeballs are now going to personality-driven shows,” Williams said. “People gravitate to shows which are in line with their views. So you don’t think about someone who is living differently from you. This is segregating the society even more.”
Not only that, but even the content and utility of news has changed definitions for the most part.
“People are now looking for gossip about Charlie Sheen and his hookers and coke, so then it simply becomes another way to escape from their daily routine before they return for the next basketball game.”
On a question from the audience about the lack of any public voices arguing for black children, Williams said that this was a painful topic for him.
“When Obama said speaking to a black church audience that there is more to a father than just raising children, Jesse Jackson said, and I’m sorry but I don’t want to offend anybody, that ‘he should have his nuts cut off.'” Williams said. “It is a consequence of the lack of people who are willing to speak out the truth. It is because people are just afraid to say. “
Williams expressed hope, however, that the current generation would take note of this and play a more active role participating in discussions with members of the society.
“If you’re writing about something with passion, people will listen to you and opportunities will come to you. If you can write, tell a story, then it can be a real springboard for all your other ambitions,” Williams said.