But let's not forget the lasting legacy of Dr. King's message was not only about race and intolerance, but about poverty.
See, poverty is the real killer of dreams in this country, the richest country ever to exist on this planet. Twenty years after establishing this day of service, we still have too many children going to bed hungry; too many women who can't support the children they've conceived and borne; too many men unable to find a job that keeps them out of prison; too many families living either on the streets or in shelters; too many people desperate and living solely to make it to the next measly paycheck.
And they're, far and away, mostly white. So it clearly is not about race, despite the Republicans best efforts to paint it that way (and thus neatly sew up the po' white trash vote, since if those folks had a clue about whom the Republicans really hurt, they'd vote Democrat in a heartbeat.)
Katrina exposed a deep racial divide in this country in most eyes, but for me, it exposed something far more troubling: our nation's inability, from the government down to the individual, to recognize that there are people who are not making it in this world and we ought to do something about it.
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