The richest moment in Dr. King’s masterpiece speech 50 years ago (many parts of which ought to be committed to memory!) is this sentence: “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.”
I think this country has come a tremendously long way in removing the institutional barriers that judge by skin -- even those horrible “white only” signs symbolized a tragic mocking of America’s ideal of freedom. For this removal we should be thankful.
But, there are still individual hearts that prejudge -- white hearts, black hearts, Hispanic hearts, Asian hearts. This is the human condition: “we” all struggle with “them,” whoever they are! This is our universal fear of the other.
Unfortunately, removing this barrier is not a matter of a new set of laws. This is not something the government can ever fix. So, what can we do?
Dr. King gave us the answer. He called us to judge not on the outward level (color of skin), but to make an assessment using a different standard: “The content of their character”. This is what’s missing in our discourse today -- are we raising children of character? Are we modeling for the next generation what character looks like? Do we know it ourselves?
Character includes: Who we are when no one is looking; what we do when we can get away with it; how we sacrifice for the sake of others; how we extend ourselves for neighbors in need; how we define “neighbor”; how we give without looking for payback; how we seek to work hard; how we make today’s decisions by what will benefit both those around us and tomorrow’s world.
Let us look past race and look to character. This is what Dr. King called us to. The next generation needs us to be strong in character, industrious, honest to the core, upstanding and fun-loving; neither scamming nor cheating, nor taking advantage of whatever system we are in; not using power to put others down, but to raise them up; speaking only words of hope, love, blessing; living grace and truth.
As we reflect on that last 50 years, and long for the next 50, this one thought might really be a game-changer: “What’s the content of my character? What am I instilling in my children and their friends?”
This is how we’ll let freedom ring!
The Rev. Jason McKnight is pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Kinston. Reach him at Jason@gracekinston.org.