There is one line in Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a Dream” speech that has always stood out to me. One line that makes the difference between a segregated America and a unified America.
“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.”
It matters much more to me now, as my kids continue to grow up and I notice more and more the influences of society, culture, entertainment, and the media generally. It matters to me because I don’t want my kids to think that their outward appearance is what defines them. They are much more than what you see the first time you look at them. They are God’s kids. They are my kids. All of them like to snuggle. They are crazy and funny. Michael is gentle and likes attention. Anthony loves to wrestle and play video games. Jada is strong and loud. The older three love their two baby sisters. Avery talks a lot. Nora crawls out of her crib when you think she’s sleeping. And oh yeah, somewhere down the list, a few of them have brown skin and a couple of them have light skin.
My older three kids know that they have brown skin. And they know that I don’t. They say that they have “brown” skin and I have “bright” skin, whatever that means.
My children won’t experience most of what Martin Luther King Jr. was standing up against in 1963. There aren’t signs that say “white’s only” on bathroom stalls. They don’t go to a segregated school, and actually attend a school that celebrates diversity. They’ll be able to vote. They don’t live in a ghetto. Their opportunity for upward mobility isn’t “moving from a small ghetto to a large ghetto”. And I feel pretty confident in saying that they won’t deal with random police brutality based solely on the color of their skin. (Don’t miss the forest for the trees on that one. Does it still happen? Probably. Does it still happen like it did in 1963, where people were being straight up beaten to a pulp–simply for the color of their skin? Doubtful.)
But for all that they won’t need to experience, there’s one that I’m worried they won’t be able to escape. When most people look at them, the first thing they notice is that they’re black.
Now, let me be clear: noticing differences is a natural condition of the human mind. It’s almost impossible to escape. Pretending that we’re “color-blind” is, in the words of Mr. Brown as he taught diversity training at Dunder-Mifflin, “fighting ignorance with more ignorance.”
What I don’t want is for people to notice that they have brown skin, and then assume that they are going to act a certain way; I don't want them to assume something about their character based on the color of their skin. Unfortunately we live in a society that connects color with culture, as if you can’t have one without the other. It’s when we see a brown-skinned person and assume that he or she is just like them, whoever the “them” is. Why is he just like them? One reason. The only one we can see. Her skin is the same color. We’re making a judgment about who a person is based on the color of their skin. We’re prejudiced people. (prejudice (n): preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.)
This is why I don’t like the phrase “black culture”. What is "black culture"? Don’t make assumptions about what my kids might like, enjoy, how they will act, behave, the kind of jobs they can or can’t get–or will desire to have–based on the color of their skin. And don't settle for that yourself.
I cringe when I’m watching a TV show and a character makes a statement about being “black.” Usually it’s in response to something they’ve done, a certain way of thinking, or some other thing that is easy enough to explain away simply by saying, “It’s because I’m black.” I get that it’s almost always done in a humorous way. In most shows, it’s intended to be comedic, the way that you’d understand that I was joking if I said that the reason I like mayonnaise is because I’m white.
The thing is, I wonder when the day will come when my sons or daughter will notice the character on TV and ask, “Daddy, am I supposed to act that way too, since I have brown skin?” I don’t want anyone to tell my kids that the color of their skin determines the choices they can make in life, how they are allowed to think, what they are allowed to do, or the kind of things they are allowed to enjoy.
Sometimes, Michael will have a moment where he realizes we look different and he’ll ask why. Sometimes, he’ll say that he wishes we didn’t look different. He wishes that his skin was like mine; really he just wishes we looked the same. What I hope he knows as he gets older is that there is beauty in our differences. They just don’t have to define us. The color of our skin doesn’t define us; not him, not me.
What defines us is what God thinks of us. And although man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7). There really are only two races of people: Adam’s race, and Jesus’ race. In Adam, difference reigns, and the division is the result. In Jesus, unity and freedom reign. (Romans 5). The old distinctions don’t go away–this is the beauty of the mosaic of the body of Christ–they just don’t matter in the economy of the new kingdom (Galatians 3:28). What God thinks is that he loves us a lot and wants us to be his kids forever. (Ephesians 1)
In an America obsessed with entertainment, I challenge you to consider whether we truly judge by the content of a person’s character, or by their outward appearance. So long as outward appearance is our chief focus, unity, and ultimately the freedom that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for, will continue to elude us...
The full transcript of Dr. King’s speech can be found here: