Beyond the dream: My reflection on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday is reserved as a day of pause, reflection and service to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As a civil rights leader and servant humanitarian, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is prominently remembered for his oratory of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech delivered during the Aug. 23, 1963, March on Washington.
Tucked away in the annals of time is another prominent speech Dr. King delivered to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on Oct. 26, 1967, where he asked the critical question, “What is in your life’s blueprint?” In this speech, Dr. King referenced “life’s blueprint” as a call for preparing those young students to receive the pouring of opportunities that would become available to them beyond the dream.
By using the builder’s analogy, Dr. King explained how the building of any great structure requires first the architect to produce a blueprint composed of the exact pattern, design, or model to guide the builder’s precision toward completion. As such, the building of a great society of justice, fairness, equity and access to social institutions for building the American Dream requires each of us to possess a “proper, sound and solid blueprint.”
Dr. King proposed three components to your life’s blueprint that are uncompromising for the dream to be conferred. First, Dr. King articulated the importance of having a deep belief in one’s own dignity and worth. Second, a basic principle of determination to achieve excellence. Lastly, a commitment to the eternal commitments of beauty, love and justice.
The keystone messages from the two combined speeches remain relevant today. As a nation, we are still striving toward the full realities of the dream while we attempt to resist challenges to this great democracy of inclusion, access and the right for deciding one’s own life course. The current times call upon each of us to examine our own life’s blueprint to ask ourselves poignantly: What are our convictions to truth and justice? How are we answering the call described in the dream of a just society? What will be said of our legacy when our life’s chapter is complete?
Over 60 years ago, Dr. King spoke about the soul of an incomplete nation that would become more complete in its distant future by upholding the promise of human dignity and respect for all mankind. When Dr. King so eloquently asked the question, “What is in your life’s blueprint,” he was also telling us that all people, born in a society of incompletion, are themselves incomplete humans and have a duty to become more complete and better humans to one another.
In retrospect, that famous “I Have a Dream” speech was the blueprint to the American promise that has caused us to witness many of the components of that dream come into fruition during our lifetime. However, Dr. King would caution us not to get too comfortable, but to continue toward progress that is not yet seen, together. Let us each continue to examine our life’s blueprint as we continue to prepare for a greater, inclusive, just and fair society where all citizens have open access and representation in the social, economic and political institutions needed for each to become a more complete human.
Warren Dukes joined United Way as the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in 2021. In addition to leading internal and external efforts to develop and implement DEI-related strategies and programs, Dukes leads United Way’s employee resource group dedicated to ensuring that diversity, equity, inclusion and belongingness are embedded in United Way’s culture.
