Civil rights leaders agree: Dream is still unrealized

King's speech set a course, but his dream has yet to be entirely fulfilled.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Area civil rights leaders have varying views on the state of racial equality today. They do, however, agree that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has yet to be fulfilled to its fullest extent.
The Rev. Lonnie Simon did not attend the "I Have a Dream" speech, but participated in King's civil rights march on Montgomery, Ala., in 1965. Simon, pastor emeritus at New Bethel Baptist Church in Youngstown, said King's dream has not come close to reaching fulfillment 40 years later.
'A nightmare'
"It seems to me the dream has become a nightmare," the Rev. Mr. Simon, 78, of Campbell said. "We still have racism. Racism is the No. 1 problem in this country [today].
"Martin Luther King was hoping a day would come when people would look past color lines. We haven't gotten there yet."
Mr. Simon said he continues to live in a society in which he is disadvantaged by the color of his skin.
"It's like a race where I'm 100 yards back of you and I haven't caught up yet," Mr. Simon said.
The Rev. Edgar Fisher also acknowledges racism still exists in various forms. But he said King's dream represents remarkable progress from the segregated world he and others still endured in the 1960s. The Rev. Mr. Fisher estimates one-third of the crowd at that "I Have a Dream" speech was white.
King's speech "paved the way for greater achievements like affirmative action," Mr. Fisher said. "It paved the way for tremendous improvements, and we are better [off] today."
McCullough Williams Jr., 75, owner of Sterling-McCullough Williams Funeral Home in Youngstown, heard King speak at a hotel in Cleveland in 1956. Even seven years before "I Have a Dream," Williams, who became the first black president of the Youngstown Board of Education in 1972, was struck by King's eloquence.
"Martin Luther King, to me, was the greatest man in the history of Western Civilization," Williams said. "My meeting with him inspired my political career."
National civil rights leaders and members of Congress commemorated the 40th anniversary of King's speech on July 23 in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Marked site of speech
As part of the anniversary ceremony, an inscription was made marking the exact spot on the Lincoln Memorial's steps where King delivered his speech.
Mercer County Commissioner Ken Seamans attended many of King's speeches as a police officer for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, though not the one on Aug. 28, 1963.
"His friendliness stands out to me," Seamans said. "His staff had to keep him from talking to everybody."
Mr. Fisher met King on several occasions, including in April 1963 when they were jailed together after staging a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Ala. Mr. Fisher said King addressed him and the other 10 individuals in the single jail cell.
"He said, 'As a result of your time in jail, you will make this nation better,'" Mr. Fisher said. "'You are tearing down the walls of segregation.'"
The Rev. Jim Ray remembers King's death on April 4, 1968, at age 39 -- an event that in time would make King a martyr. The Rev. Mr. Ray, whose full name is James Evan Ray, got a call that day from his father, who said a James E. Ray had killed King. The assassin turned out to be James Earl Ray.
"For years after that, I had people making remarks about my name," he said.
Mr. Ray said he will never truly be able to walk in the shoes of those who are disadvantaged. He said more blacks need to be placed in positions of authority and prominence. "Some day we need a black president."
Williams summed up the progress the civil rights movement has made: "There were times when we didn't even know where the building was so we didn't know where the door was," Williams said. "Now we know the location and where the door is and probably even the password to get in.
"But it's taken a lot of years, and we're not inside yet."
But despite the long road ahead toward eliminating racism, Simon said, he finds optimism in today's youth.
"The only hope I have, me personally, is the younger generations who will see things differently from their parents."
mbixenstine@vindy.com
XCONTRIBUTOR: Peter Milliken, Vindicator staff writer.