Today is the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, and some people see lots of progress for black Americans since then. But that progress is only partial, and one of America’s shames is that the descendants of people who were slaves still don’t get a fair break today.
The main progress has been political. One of King’s dreams was that “even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Today, more than a quarter of the Mississippi legislature is black, up from approximately zero in 1963. Nationwide, the number of black elected officials has grown from less than 1,500 in 1963 to more than 10,500 today.
