He had a dream,
And that dream had not been achieved.
Not fully, anyways.
The lives of people of color
Have been made marginally better,
Comparing his time to now,
But it’s not enough.
Racism and colorism and injustice still run rampant
Throughout institutions and society.
It’s a systemic issue that’s been around for a long time,
Long before any of us were born.
In order to change things for the better,
We need to change people’s minds.
We need to focus on empathy, compassion, and kindness,
And we can’t leave others behind.
Incrementalism has marginally helped marginalized groups,
But it’s not enough.
To have long lasting and impactful change, it needs to be systemic.
The systems and institutions and societies built on racism and prejudice
Need to be fundamentally changed from both the outside and from within.
It will be hard, but it’s not impossible.
Material and social conditions that result from societal structures and institutions
Can be fixed, because societal structures and institutions are social constructs.
They were made by people; groups of people.
Thus, we can change societies and institutions for the better.
How that would be done, I have no idea.
But what I do know is, change starts from the individual level.
You, who is reading this right now, can be impacted by this post,
At least to some degree.
Liking it, sharing it, commenting on it, engaging in discussion from it,
All of that can affect people to some degree.
The same is true for social media.
Whatever your platform is, you have the power to change minds
And affect people’s lives.
So when MLK said he had a dream,
We can achieve that dream.
We can make the world a better place.
It all starts with you.
