The dream of Martin Luther King Jr. can be equated to a master quilter sewing a quilt.

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1 Student Name: Bernique Pinder Grade: 11 Crooked Island High School Crooked Island, The Bahamas The dream of Martin Luther King Jr. can be equated to a master quilter sewing a quilt. His dream represents the multi colored quilt of the American society. His needle and thread were his favorite words- Peace and Love which were essential in keeping the parts of his quilt together. In his dream he envisioned all races, representing the colors of his quilt, sewn together in bonds of unity. Despite the laws taught to him by his elders, that certain colors should never be stitched together, he wanted to prove everyone wrong. He was assassinated before his the quilt was completed, but it was passed on into the hands of other great men. These great men saw his good intentions and wanted his dream to live on. When he shared his dream with millions on August 28 th 1963 at Lincoln Memorial Washington, D.C.; he did not know that 45 years later, his dream will finally be truly fulfilled. The fabric and true nature of his dream underwent many interpretations and was regurgitated through many different mediums: T-shirts, music, and dance. However, the true meaning of his dream remained unaltered. The dream, however, will finally and truly be fulfilled with the swearing in of Barack Obama as the forty forth president of the United States of America. Despite being forty five years old, the colors and vivacity of the threads of his creation still stimulates all who take time to observe it. Obama represents the last quilter in a series of great African Americans who wanted to see the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the end. It is Obama s victory that truly revealed what the Bernique Pinder 1

2 dream really meant to black people in the United States. It is his swearing in that will bring the dream to its true realization. When Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned his great work, he foreshadowed a multicolor society. In this vision, he saw a United States where a black person doesn t have to give up his/her seat for a white person. He saw in his vision a society where segregation no longer haunts the minds of Negros, a society where blacks are no longer treated as prisoners, and a society willing to change their mentality and see all All God s Children as equal. When we listen closely to President Elect Obama talking about change, we imagine him with needle in hand. The one who shares Martin Luther King s vision, and just like Dr. King will have an opportunity to go against the norm and sew inside the mentality of Americans a new idea. An idea that never was perceived, other than in Dr. King dream, before. The swearing in of President-Elect Obama as president makes this perception a reality. The reality is that African Americans can be elevated to the highest office in the land. President Obama will be the one to conclude the work, our Moses, Dr. Martin Luther King initiated. By adopting the vision of Dr. King, he is the one to lead us into the Promised Land that Dr. King spoke about, and was so willing to lead us there, but just like Moses never had an opportunity. As the master quilter, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stood before the citizens of the United States of America, he presented them with many tools needed to get the job done. One such tool was the spool of optimism that they shall and will overcome their barriers. He said, Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. He was in essence saying that justice should be impartial. It should not only be in reach of the Bernique Pinder 2

3 whites. All should be able to eat the cherries from its tree, because God made all men equal. Dr. King felt that as human beings we should not judge a man by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He felt that for too long African Americans have been treated lowly and have been discriminated against. Negros should not have to go to bed at night hungry with a yearning for a better tomorrow. In Nineteen sixty eight, they killed him but his dream lived on. It became a new beginning. African Americans were eager to see the Promise Land he spoke about when he said that he had been to the mountain top. It was a beginning that replaced fear with hope and courage. With the presentation of his master piece, he placed in the hearts of African Americans a vision of freedom from racial injustice. A vision that they will no longer be: the victims of police brutality, the neglected, the denied children, the poverty stricken, and the subjectors of the signs for Whites Only. Dr. King dreamt that, We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. This is fulfilled with an African American finally going from the ghetto to the highest place in society the oval office as President. In Dr. King s vision he saw African Americans moving higher up the ladder of success not by scandals, bribery or illegal actions because We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Barack Obama has done such by being elected he will add another thread to the quilt of multicolor on the day that he is sworn in. He will be a voice in the wilderness, a quarter among pennies, and a light in the darkness. Dr. King said, Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Bernique Pinder 3

4 Black Americans thought that after the 1865 Civil War, they would finally be treated equally and just, but that was not realized. Blacks were still discriminated and held by the bonds of segregation laws and customs. However, with the swearing in of President-elect Obama, a Black man finally has the final say as commander in chief. As we reflect on the swearing in of Barack Obama as president, we can see a change has finally come. A time when the voices of African Americans are heard and issues concerning their well being can be addressed. With Obama at the desk, the sewing machine sings as it makes that final stitch. This stitch that reminds African Americans that they can dream the impossible dream and that it can come through. For far too long they have been wounded by discrimination, and Obama has dried their silent tears of helplessness. No more shall they be afraid. No more shall they be held captive by segregation. They shall and they will overcome. On January 20 th 2009 blacks and whites across the nation of the Unites States of America will finally be totally united. As Obama sews that last thread into that magnificent quilt started by Dr. King many years ago, the world will be watching. The world will be looking to see if what Dr. King envisioned was really possible. The world will listen as millions stand there in awe at the sight of an African American being sworn in as the forty forth president. Many will cry, but tears of joy will flow. Many will faint, not from the heat, but from the impossibility of this great event. An African American has finally arisen to the pinnacle of American society. Some of it was of by his power. But I believe the majority of it was because of the vision and legacy of a great man years ago, the late Bernique Pinder 4

5 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His soul can now rest in peace. However, his dream has finally been fulfilled but his legacy is truly just beginning. With President Obama at the helm, the legacy may just live forever. Bernique Pinder 5