The fierce urgency of now

This is an editorial I wrote when I was at The People-Sentinel in Barnwell S.C. a while back. Adapted and ran it when I was in Chester.
It's about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The fierce urgency of now"

Those are words buried amidst the speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave in Washington, D.C. People remember the speech he gave that day. He called it "The Dream," and it's a dream shared by many.
King ended his speech in rousing fashion, detailing his dream and his hopes, a vision of a society free of the sin that is the ignorance of racial bigotry.
He ended his speech looking forward. But in his speech, he did something important, and looked back. As American's forefathers did when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, King listed the wrongs suffered by black men and women at the hands of slavery.
Some would say it is dangerous to dwell too much on the past, but King answered that as well, and looked at the present state of his people.
He also listed the wrongs being done to black Americans at the hands of segregation.
"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now," he said. "This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy."
Things were better, no doubt, for Dr. King than they had been for his forefathers. But better is not always good. Life for black men and women is no doubt better today than it was for Dr. King when he gave that speech.
But hatred and blind fear brought on by skin color still thrive in this society.
Every time you think you have prejudice defeated, it rears its ugly head somewhere else.
Decades have passed since that wonderful day when Dr. King shared with us his vision of the future, yet we are still trapped in the fierce urgency of now.
Some called King a prophet for justice. Others called him a troublemaker. Perhaps a prophet and a troublemaker can be the same thing. Whenever Samuel went to see King Saul or Nathan went to see King David, the kings usually were about to catch it.
The words of our most recent prophet stay with us, exposing the sin of inequity. We are still in the heart of the fierce urgency of now. We must learn to live with each other, and because he was indeed a prophet, King gave us a vision of the future to guide us.
"I have a dream 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," he said.
"And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children — black me and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants — will be able to join hands and sing in the worlds of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.'"
Some grumble about taking just a day to honor a man who said such stirring things. We grumble about it also.
It doesn't seem like quite enough..