Little more than 50 years back on a Southern summer day of 11th June 1963, not far from where I live, the then Governor of Alabama George Wallace tried to block two black students from integrating into the University of Alabama. Only a month before in May 1963, he famously said, "Segregation then, segregation now and segregation forever".
George Wallace died unsung, but Martin Luther King's Civil Rights picked the gauntlet from there, his moment movement gaining steam. Can't stop admiring this man's charisma and leadership. It's said that those who teach leadership quality at Harvard's Business School often allude "Leaders are born, can never be made".
It was followed by his iconic speech "I have a Dream, when a man will be judged not by the color of his skin, but by content of his character." Clips of his speech on TV still raises goose bumps. He went on further "I have a dream, when on the Red Hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and former slave owners will be able to seat down together in tables of brotherhood".
The rest we know is history. I live on the Red Soils of Georgia, Martin Luther King never saw his dream come true during his life time, but a few decades down the road, his dream was realized. Not that racism has completely vanished from America, but it has come a long, vindicated by Barack Obama being the first African-American President.
America has been blessed by able leaderships, at crucial junctures in history. From George Washington who gathered a bunch of rag tagged peasants to defeat the powerful British Army (incidentally America is the only country in history to have ever defeated the British), Abraham Lincoln who kept the United States united after fighting a Civil War, Roosevelt who rescued America from recession to success in World War II, the charismatic Kennedy who inspired NASA to launch man to moon. It cradles, nurtures and rewards talent. Obama vindicated the American dream by being a two term President. And the dream continues.
Happy birthday to the Dr. King, the legend, you are and should be the source of inspiration to many, beyond the boundaries of the land you were born, being the harbinger of positive changes in a world beyond borders.
George Wallace died unsung, but Martin Luther King's Civil Rights picked the gauntlet from there, his moment movement gaining steam. Can't stop admiring this man's charisma and leadership. It's said that those who teach leadership quality at Harvard's Business School often allude "Leaders are born, can never be made".
It was followed by his iconic speech "I have a Dream, when a man will be judged not by the color of his skin, but by content of his character." Clips of his speech on TV still raises goose bumps. He went on further "I have a dream, when on the Red Hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and former slave owners will be able to seat down together in tables of brotherhood".
The rest we know is history. I live on the Red Soils of Georgia, Martin Luther King never saw his dream come true during his life time, but a few decades down the road, his dream was realized. Not that racism has completely vanished from America, but it has come a long, vindicated by Barack Obama being the first African-American President.
America has been blessed by able leaderships, at crucial junctures in history. From George Washington who gathered a bunch of rag tagged peasants to defeat the powerful British Army (incidentally America is the only country in history to have ever defeated the British), Abraham Lincoln who kept the United States united after fighting a Civil War, Roosevelt who rescued America from recession to success in World War II, the charismatic Kennedy who inspired NASA to launch man to moon. It cradles, nurtures and rewards talent. Obama vindicated the American dream by being a two term President. And the dream continues.
Happy birthday to the Dr. King, the legend, you are and should be the source of inspiration to many, beyond the boundaries of the land you were born, being the harbinger of positive changes in a world beyond borders.
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