back to the future?

Today was one of those days that will be forever etched into my brain. I’m not sure if dichotomy is the right word to describe today’s events, but it was a day of major thought and reflection.

Today the 60th anniversary of The March on Washington was celebrated in our nation’s capital. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was one of the most iconic speeches in our nation’s history, and to see the number of people who came to celebrate the occasion in DC was a sight to behold.

I also had the opportunity to see Richard Thomas portray Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird at The Kennedy Center this afternoon. To say that this play was intense would be a tremendous understatement. This was Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of the play, and fortunately he knew how to correctly add levity in a play that shows the true underbelly of racism in America. There were moments when I could truly feel the hair standing on my arms because of the incredibly powerful (and disturbing) dialogue.

These two events have made me give great thought to the current social climate. It’s scary to know that a play written by Harper Lee in the mid-50’s about the segregation in Deep South in the mid-30’s would still be so incredibly relevant in 2023. As much as we’ve progressed with technology, we’ve regressed in terms of racism and equality. The words of Dr. King and Atticus Finch have lost their impact in today’s society. We still live with the same fears in 2023 that existed in 1935.

Unfortunately, these same fears were validated this afternoon, as three African-Americans were gunned down by a White supremacist in a Dollar General store in Jacksonville Florida, solely because of the color of their skin.

How do we put this ignorance in the rear view mirror once and for all? How is it that the hopes we had for equality in 1963 seem more advanced than the cold reality of 2023? We’ve gone back to the future, but not in a good way.

My hope is that 60 years from now (if not sooner), we have a society that has more compassion than violence, more respect than hatred, and much more love instead of hate. That the dream of Dr. King will continue to flourish and not die.

That’s the future to which we can hopefully go back.