MLK celebration speaker: Conditions King

spoke about in 1967 still exist today

Staff Writer

Though much has been achieved, much remains to be done to realize the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a truly just America, those attending the annual celebration of King's birthday were told Monday night.

The Rev. Dr. Francys Johnson, executive director of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, was scheduled to be the featured speaker but was unable to attend. Speaking in his place was the Rev. Dr. F. Eric Brooks, a minister, author and educator. Brooks, who teaches at Georgia Southern University, quoted from a 1967 speech on economic injustice in which King said:

“... New laws are not enough, The emergency we face is economic and it's a desperate and worsening situation. For the 35 million poor people in America there is a kinship of strangulation in the air. In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist.'”

Brooks pointed out that while much has been achieved since King spoke those words and “there's evidence of change and a renewed sense of hope for America” much remains to be done.

“No longer are African-Americans subject to de jure segregation - segregation by law - but it's brother, de facto segregation, still lingers,” he said. “No longer are African-Americans barred from attending colleges and universities with whites, largely thanks to the herculean work of the NAACP, but there's still work to be done. No longer do African-Americans have to give up their seats when whites need seats but there's still work to be done.

“There is evidence that America has changed when the leading candidates for president are an African-American man and a woman,” he said. “Things are better but there is much work to be done.”

Despite all the progress that's been made, Brooks pointed out that in many ways the conditions King spoke of in 1967 persist to this day and have even worsened.

“Some may wonder how I could come to the conclusion there is much work to be done,” he said. “It is my observation that far too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country. On a daily basis, 37 million Americans wake up in poverty without enough income to pay for their basic necessities. Wages are stagnant for most workers and by some measures, inequality is at its highest level since the 1920s yet poverty is not on the national agenda.”

Brooks pointed out that there is much work to be done throughout the country, including South Carolina.

“When people are taken advantage of by unscrupulous mortgage lenders, when health care is not affordable for all and the cost of college is as high as a mortgage, there is still work to be done,” he said. “There are 228,000 children living in poverty in South Carolina. There are 640,000 South Carolinians living in poverty. The poverty rate grew from 18 percent in 2000 to almost 23 percent in 2005. There are 250,000 South Carolina households that went hungry in 2006. This is the fourth-highest rate in the nation.

“In South Carolina, one of two men is diagnosed with cancer, two out of three women get diagnosed with cancer,” Brooks said. “In South Carolina, African-American women are 60 percent more likely to die if diagnosed with breast cancer as opposed to their white counterparts. There is still work to be done.”