"April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death And How It Changed America" by Michael Eric Dyson

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Dyson's book April 4, 1968. This book came out a couple of years ago. It was the 40th anniversary of his death. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so. It was life changing for me. So sit back and enjoy this passage as we reflect on his death 44 years ago today.

"He also pointed to the hypocrisy of giving more analytical credibility to whites when they shared the same setback as blacks. King said black people "are living in a literal depression. Now the problem is when there is massive unemployment in the black community, the nation calls it a social problem. When there is massive unemployment in the white community, the nation calls it a depression." Later in the speech, King said when money is "given out to provide certain rights for black people, they call it welfare. When it's given to white people, it's called subsidy." King said that labor statistics show "that there is about 8.4 percent unemployment in the black community. But do you know, it doesn't include what we call the discouraged-- the thousands and thousands of Negroes in this country who've given up, who've lost hope. They've had so many doors closed in their faces that they feel defeated, and they don't even go down to look for a job."

These are words that Dr. King spoke decades ago and here we are in 2012 having the same conversation.  I am glad that Dr. Dyson took the time to show us how much work we have left to do.