In August of 1963, I was too young to have understood Martin Luther King, Jr. speech at the March on Washington.
It was much later, in high school that I first heard his words and then it was only a snippet here and there. A passing reference to Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement on the 1960s would turn up in an English class or someone would utter the words "I had a dream..." in drama.
Early in high school, I really didn't understand the Civil Rights movement. Didn't really understand what it was about. I'm not sure that I am qualified even now to understand.
However, I learned much more about Dr. King in senior level social studies. We had a slightly different curriculum in the courses that I was taking with much more latitude to study a wider variety of topics than the standard high school social studies program.
We spent some time discussing Dr. King and the civil rights movement in the United States. I remember those discussions. I never really understood why some people would treat other people as different or inferior.
A person is a person, after all.
Isn't it the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence that declares: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?"
Could there be a stronger statement about equality?
Perhaps it was the naivety of youth that I also thought that prejudice was entirely an American issue. I wasn't prejudice and none of my friends were. Canadians weren't prejudice, were we?
Looking back on that time from a great distance, I don't really know. I grew up in Vancouver and at the time, it was not anywhere near as racially and culturally mixed as it is today. Still, my best friend was a first generation Canadian of Russian ancestry.
We also had students in our class that were Chinese, Japanese, African-American, Greek, and half a dozen or so other nationalities. I don't remember anyone being singled out because of their race, creed, or origins.
But that was looking from outside. As a white male, maybe I was blind to their struggles. Maybe I didn't see the subtle signs of racism directed at my classmates and friends. Looking back, I don't remember seeing a lot of First Nations youth in our high school. Nor do I remember hearing of their struggles.
This is one of the problems that we face - you can not know a person's struggles until you have walked a mile in their shoes. And it is virtually impossible to walk in someone else's shoes.
As I have matured, I have realized there are prejudices. That Canadian's have prejudices. That Canadians really aren't that different from any other country.
Our prejudices didn't arise from slavery and servitude. But they do exist.
To this day, First Nations people are struggling for equality and recognition of their inalienable rights. Over this past summer we have heard even more stories of abuse and mistreatment at residential school.
It is not just the First Nations, though. Women are still not treated with equality. Our wage structures still see women with equal qualifications and experience, doing exactly the same work as a man, but getting paid seventy-five cents on the dollar.
I even had a woman explain to me that this was fair because, after all, men have families to feed. It was one of those moments where you really have to give your head a shake and walk away.
Other racial, cultural, and religious groups in our society still have to deal with prejudice. This summer, there was a debate about Sikhs and soccer. Should youth be allowed to wear turbans? For a while, in Quebec, the answer was "non".
It is not just Canada, though. Russia has enacted laws that would see people imprisoned for a simple public display of affection if their partner was of the wrong sex. You would think by now we could have gotten past such attitudes.
Yet, here it is 50 years after Martin Luther King, Jr. uttered the words: "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."
Maybe it is time that we all stand up and say: "Let's not dream anymore. Let's ensure that the color of a person's skin, their religion, their sexual orientation, their sex, their creed, their nationality will no longer be the basis to judge. Let all persons be judged by the content of their character."
After all, that is what truly matters.
