GOALS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT MUST BE REFOCUSED

The 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech was commemorated a few weeks ago. As a high-water mark in the civil rights movement, the speech was worth remembering. What resulted in the recent celebration, however, was not on the par of Dr. King's inspirational words; instead, it provided a glum counter-weight to the gains African Americans have made over the last three decades.

A time of legally protected segregation, at least in some parts of this nation, remains in many of our memories. The grand achievement of the civil rights movement, which Dr. King embodied and eloquently spoke of in Washington 30 years ago, was breaking down those lawful obstacles. Passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Rights Act (1965) and the Fair Housing Act (1968) removed many of the legal barriers that kept black Americans in a sort of government-sanctioned second-rate citizenship. In a sense, the war for civil rights was won at that point.

A great many African Americans took advantage of that victory. According to The Wall Street Journal, one in three blacks in metropolitan areas lives in the suburbs, four of ten black households have incomes of more than $25,000 and the median household income for black families in which the husband and wife work full-time is $49,265. This may not be the case for every African-American family, and there are too many blacks caught in a cycle of poverty, but it is a great step forward from a point less than three decades ago when blacks were disregarded by laws of the land.

Thus, there should have been good news to share with black Americans at the recent gathering in Washington. Alas, the message was just the opposite. The National Urban League called for a $50 billion yearly federal allocation to implement a "domestic Marshall Plan." The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which earlier in the month had honored convicted felon Rodney King as a civil rights trail blazer (What would Dr. King have thought of that? What must Rosa Parks think?), put forth the word that fair treatment for people of all races was no longer enough; instead, a guaranteed fair share of the economy was requested.

Is this the way African-American leaders believe the American dream is lived out? Is this the way they believe their race is best encouraged to utilize freedoms won by their forebears? There are plenty of African-American success stories that could have been disseminated during the civil rights commemoration. When emphasis is placed on the pockets of racism that lamentably still exist and not on the great strides that have been made by prosperous African Americans, blacks in this nation are getting a distorted view (from their leaders, no less) of racial relations in the United States.

What is the situation in Cape Girardeau, where the African-American population is 8 percent? The local NAACP president points out, citing the divisions in the community, that "in the south end (of Cape Girardeau), you will find many places to buy alcohol, but you can't find one place where a child can check out a book." It's a fine statement to drum up negative feelings, but it's misleading and probably intended to be so. The public library, of which there is one facility, is about as centrally located in Cape Girardeau as it can get. In addition, there is a terrific program of educational opportunities operated by the Civic Center, which targets young people of less-advantaged backgrounds; the origins of the Civic Center were community-based, with support coming from all corners of the city. As far as the alcohol goes, the purveyors of such spirits don't usually stay where there is no business. The way to move any business out is to stop buying, which is a marketplace concern ... one that touches not at all on governmental indifference or racial interaction.

Further, the local NAACP leader lent the weight of his organization to a picket of this newspaper during the summer over a news decision not to cover an inconsequential protest at a Cape Girardeau business. The picketers said they would not leave until satisfied, and, while the newspaper did nothing to meet their demands, they failed to show up after a couple of weeks.

We believe African Americans have made major steps since Dr. King's speech, which might be boiled down to this: In a just society, there should be no whiteness, no blackness, just fairness. Are leaders of the movement today holding true to that vision? With the major obstacles to civil rights overcome, black leadership failed to keep up with the times, seeing the struggle as still governmental when the real fight was economic. If leaders can't refocus the goals of the civil rights movement, African Americans are better off without the leaders.