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President's Wreath Symbolizes New Pathway
By Kevin Fobbs
January 16, 2004

The President is going to Atlanta to lay a wreath on the grave of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., clearly one of the most powerfully articulate and principled civil rights leaders in our nation's history. While the President's effort is to recognize the slain civil rights leader's 75th birthday and in part to demonstrate his commitment to the legacy of his yet unfulfilled dream, others in the nation's audience beg to differ.

The recent uproar by many civil rights "leaders" in protest of the President's trip to Atlanta is not only troubling but it sends an blaringly incorrect message to America. These leaders form a choir of shallowness and deceit and sing from the songbook of broken records, because their voices ring hollow. They claim that President Bush is ignoring King's Dream.

They claim that it is wrong for the President to be visiting the slain civil rights legend's grave and to be placing a wreath upon it only adds insult to injury, claiming he is full of posture and short on substance.

They could not be more wrong. For those truly willing to take a look at the President's progress as it relates to three areas of King's Dream: Higher education, equal housing opportunity, and equal education under the law, they would find that the President has achieved much in these areas. By coming on the eve of the President's State of the Union speech, Bush is sending a clear message. He has not only been earnest about inaugurating programs that deliver on the dreams of the Dreamer, he intends to keep his pledge to this nation that America belongs to all Americans. Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically set the nation on that ownership course with its Brown vs. the Board of Education decision.

First, let's take higher educational opportunity. If one were to take a look at University Circle in Atlanta -- Spelman and Morehouse colleges - one would see that President Bush has kept his pledge to pour millions of dollars into those two as well as other HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) around the nation. This was a key benchmark of Rev. King's struggle, for equal educational opportunity.

Secondly, look at housing as the next benchmark. We believe that Rev. King would be proud of the attention to his legacy in the areas of housing. Rev. King traveled to the northern cities to focus attention on the need for fair, equal, and open housing. His focus from long ago has benefited many children and grandchildren of the movement in part from this President's dedication to his dream.

Look at the facts:

There are 809,000 new minority homeowners in the U.S. since the President's announcement in June 2002 of America's Homeownership Challenge. Nearly 1,500 low-income families are now using housing vouchers to pay their monthly mortgage or other costs of owning a home, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is working with public housing authorities to allow the sale of units to tenants.

The Federal Trade Commission and HUD are working together to protect homebuyers from predatory lenders. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is implementing their Money Smart program, which is providing financial education services for potential homebuyers. We think those are excellent grades so far.

Thirdly, Equal Education for children in K-12. This is probably the benchmark of benchmarks because its absence set the entire modern-day civil rights revolution into motion. The President again gets passing grades; because the Leave No Child Behind Act addresses many of the inequalities that are present in elementary schools through high schools in urban America and it promotes literacy, addresses the sky rocketing dropout rates, and holds schools accountable for their lack of results.

Under the Leave no Child Behind Act's (NCLB) historic legislation, students have choices and their parents now have options. Supplemental services are now available for parents. By using tutoring money provided under NCLB, parents can select from the over 1600 supplemental service providers approved by the states. With this option, parents for the first time can find a program that is focused, rigorous, and directed at the specific needs of their child.

In addition, Faith-and Community-Based organizations are key and play an important role in being a part of the expanded options available to parents. More than $1.7 billion per year has been made accessible to faith-and community-based organizations through NCLB, enabling these groups to receive grants and to provide quality supplemental educational services. Faith-and community-based providers can participate in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers after school program, the Title I-Supplemental Educational Services program that provides extra academic help for disadvantaged students, and the Early Reading First program.

Passing grades all the way around. So what is really at stake here is that many of these civil rights advocates are extremely afraid that this President really does get it. What they are afraid of is that the years and years of being in attack mode and mouthing platitudes and catch phrases riddled with contempt for conservative or GOP ideology just might be backfiring. And more importantly, that their continuing assertion that only Democrats care about the plight of minorities and that their platform of victimization instead of independence is beginning to fall on deaf ears.

Urban America is at a crossroads and the policies of this Administration in Education, Housing, and Higher Education, just to focus on a few main issues, are focusing America on stepping up to the plate to confront a second challenge. As the President said in December of 2002:

"This great and prosperous land must become a single nation of justice and opportunity. We must continue our advance toward fully equality for every citizen, which demands the guarantee of civil rights for all."

America need not only look back at its past, but also look forward toward its future. The authors of this essay grew up in very different times and very different places. The Detroit and New York of forty years ago were equally segregated, by race, by class, and by opportunity. We both agree with the President's additional remarks of December 2002, "Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong." We believe, and I'm sure America believes what Rev. King would echo, that it is time to make a decision on this crossroad, one path leading toward full equality and opportunity and one leading down the road toward "business as usual".

The President's heart-felt gesture is more than recognizing a symbol of our nation's past - it is full recognition of our nation's future and of its potential. This President is fully prepared to continue to "walk the walk" of action and results instead of just "talking the talk" of inclusion, which leads us down the correct pathway of full equality and a truly colorblind society. A genuine 75th birthday gift for Rev. Dr. King and for America.

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Kevin Fobbs is President, Lisa Sarrach is Vice President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic, and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. Visit their web site at www.NuPac.org.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.