I grew up when segregation was accepted as the law of the land.

Today, with the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the support of people like Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, Mayor Moon Landrieu and many people of all races, the Civil Rights Act became law.

It seemed like that would be the beginning of what Dr. King envisioned. 

During his most famous speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King expressed his vision for America in these now famous words: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

“I have a dream that one day even the State of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream … of that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

With these famous, inspiring words are race relations any better today than 30 or 40 years ago?

I think not! 

I can’t relate to being a slave or a slave-owner, but as an American, I’m concerned race relations today are worse than at any time since the signing of the Civil Rights Bill.

Is there a solution to the hatred and prejudices we are now experiencing?

Only when we, as a supposedly Christian nation, realize that God’s Spirit has no color, will we see the vision of Dr. King become a lifestyle in America.

If you have any questions, or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.