Friend,

I love holidays and this holiday has extraordinary memories since I and a few of my close friends marched to make it a holiday. I remember our special time together as we traveled from New York by train and stayed overnight at my cousin's home, rising early in the morning to travel to the destination of the march. You're probably familiar with this story since I've written about it before. It's a great memory for many reasons.

Our small journey pales compared to others who undertook the tedious process to make this day a holiday. The work of Dr. King was not typical in the Civil Rights Movement, he embraced non-violence in the spirit of Gandhi who successfully used the same strategy in India.

Times have changed and while we continue to celebrate Dr. King, I wonder if perhaps it can be more appropriately questioned whether, Dr. King's legacy is not being used to push an agenda which at times can be violent, manipulative, and contrary to "The Dream."

The Dream was about unity, equality, fairness, and the common brotherhood of mankind. However, today we see Dr. King's quotes, photos, and likeness being used to espouse, support, and take up causes that would have been contrary to Dr. King and his dream.

The push today toward equity as opposed to equality seems to eliminate The Dream. It doesn't seem obvious without looking closely at exactly what is meant by the term "equity" which comes with its own ideology.

But, today we celebrate the life and work of Dr. King whom we all knew and loved as a leader, father, brother, uncle, husband, and friend. A man with a Dream.

The world has changed and sometimes change is good but sometimes it's just more of the same wrapped and packaged differently. I pray we move forward and not backward.