The fierce urgency of now

The official unemployment rate is 7.4%. To Mary X. this meant nothing. Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech, she was back on the bus to attend another “March on Washington.” Back in 1963, she was just 10 years old, sitting on her mother’s lap, when she heard that famous speech exhorting the audience to grab the “fierce urgency of now.” The nation was different, the cause was just. Most people now had jobs. She had lost her job. However, she was hopeful that the leaders would reinvigorate her. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis (site of the Dr. King’s assassination on April 4, 1968) was her shrine. Today she wanted to text her enthusiasm and memories to her friends. A younger passenger tried to explain Twitter to her. It was a faster way to convey her enthusiasm to more people. She did not seem to care. She only wanted to use a means of communication that she could understand. She only wanted to impart and listen to hope.

The unemployment rate in her neighborhood was identical to the national rate for blacks i.e., 12.6% and for those aged 16 to 19 years old the rate was 41.6%. Many of these kids could not afford to attend universities, but she was proud of the few teenagers who managed to earn their way out of the ghetto with scholarships. One of them had returned to teach at the local high school. It was hard work teaching hungry children from largely single-parent families. Nevertheless, he was there, toiling daily on behalf of the economically disenfranchised, with only the rare thank-you to keep him going. Another man had won a scholarship to a renowned music conservatory and was now entertaining crowds thousands of miles away from his original home. However, many others remained stuck in the cycle of poverty and crime. She clutched her Blackberry, a prize acquired days before she had lost her job. “Snatch-and-grab” phone thefts were common and she did not wish to lose her digital memories. She remembered hearing gun shots the previous evening. The shots saddened her and she thought about the fact that the neighborhood hospital had closed and any victims from the previous night’s violence would likely have had no place in the area where they could immediately receive treatment.

The words “fierce urgency of now” rang in her ears as she carefully unfolded her banner marked “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Another son of a single mother, President Barack Obama, had emphasized the importance of education in order to climb out of the ghetto. She wanted to hear his words. Although she was no longer young, she wanted to tell him that her heart was still strong. She wanted to hear how best to apply her newly acquired Master’s degree in social studies in order to climb out of poverty and to help herself and her community. According to national statistics, she could now conceivably live a much longer life than her mother, who had raised a family on her own before passing away at the age of fifty.

Mary X was proud and she did not wish to be a burden to society. One King quote, in particular, resonated with her: “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.” She was on the bus to help secure her own world. Although she groused about Chinese forgers copying the works of black entrepreneurs in her neighborhood, she was also visiting Washington to marvel at the “Stone of Hope,” carved by Chinese master-sculptor, Lei Yixin. She was weary and elated at the same time. Soon she would be at the Lincoln Memorial, site of the original 1963 speech. Soon she would be surrounded by other working folks listening to civil rights’ luminaries, celebrities and politicians. Soon she would hear the words of a transformational figure, the first African-American president. Soon others would realize the thoughts bubbling up from the well of her sub-conscious mind: The power to change lies within each one of us. Soon the stream of righteousness would turn into a river of concrete action. As the bus rolled down Independence Avenue, the pastor led the passengers in prayer and reminded them of their responsibilities. Mary X stepped of the bus in search of her dream.