I wrote the blog post below in 2014. In 2017, the USA has an even greater need to remember the ideals and teachings of Dr. King and the many actions he took to build a better America free of racism and other forms of discrimination. To this day, a mention of Dr. King’s name brings back a memory for me (and probably at least a 100,000,000 other Americans) of the time when a great man made the world aware that all people should receive all universal human rights and that discrimination cannot be tolerated in any way.

Sadly, this year we will celebrate the US National Holiday in honor of Dr. King the same week about half of the American voters celebrate the inauguration of a new American presidential administration that will try to deny many of the rights of many based on their religion, national origin, current residence, gender orientation, gender, income, education, and many other characteristics.

America has taken a giant step backwards. I trust the ideals of Dr. King can once again bring us forward from the darkness of discrimination, denigration, denial of rights, and despair.

Addition in 2021.

Much as I predicted four years ago, Donald Trump totally screwed up the USA. He has run an American government that is racist, unfair to everyone except the billionaire class, a destroyer of our alliances and friendships of many decades with other nations. Trump’s government has ended many of our charitable contributions to poor nations and those with the need of medical supplies and skills. He contends the truth is fake news if he does not want to hear the truth if it is critical of him. And he has violated all of the positive beliefs and policies and caring and empathy steps that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., taught us all 50 years ago.

In two days, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the US President. All of the indications at this time are that he will lead our country in the way Dr. King taught us was for the betterment of all global citizens. Biden is going to have an incredibly difficult job dealing with COVID-19, civil unrest, individual and systemic racism, unheard of unemployment rates, the children of the world not receiving in-class instruction, and poverty at levels unbelievable 12 month ago.

May we learn from the words and examples of Dr. King.

I too have a dream …

Of all the Americans who lived during my lifetime, none has been more deserving of respect for his vision, ideals, and actions than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I pray that his ideals will once represent the direction of the world’s peoples and governments.