(ThyBlackMan.com) A dream is what an individual or group aspires to, as in what you dreamt last night or as in the American Dream, the idea that anyone can become anything. But can they? Can African Americans rise to the top? The iconography, the filmography, has traditionally said no, but then came Barack Obama. What exactly is the symbolic meaning of a Black family living in the White House? A diminishing of white privilege, as the visceral reaction against him seemed to indicate, a major milestone for Black America, as his unwavering support among African Americans appears to signify? Obama’s ascension was foreshadowed by the rise of another mythic figure, Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King was swaddled in myth and legend from the day he was born. His namesake, Martin Luther, was the revolutionary priest who shook Catholicism to its core, beginning its reformation with Protestant tradition. King, note his name was King, followed suit cutting just as groundbreaking a path in a 13 year quest for 
universal equality that abruptly ended when he was murdered in Memphis. (“Memphis” was the name of Egypt’s capital when the Israelites were said to be enslaved.) The night before he left the earthly plane, it was as if he saw his imminent demise.
And so, in a steamy auditorium that was his Garden of Gethsemane, he told the ecstatically cheering throng,“. . . Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. (pause) Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Fifteen years later, his birthday was made a national holiday. He became an American icon on the level of the Founding Fathers and the Great Emancipator too, if not higher. Though they proclaimed liberty for all, they each had troubling qualifiers. The US is the Promised Land, the big, fertile, resource rich rectangle in the center of the earth. People stream here from every corner of the globe, seeking the legendary Dream we are said to hold. The meek are inheriting the earth in the wake of King’s destroying the Goliath that was Jim Crow.
So we see that Martin Luther King truly walked in the footsteps of legendary figures, only to die and then be resurrected in the nation’s Pantheon. And not just in the public’s mind, but in gigantic white alabaster stone on the national mall, emblazoned with his firmly stated mission, “To carve a stone of hope out of a mountain of despair!”
The Obama presidency can be seen in terms of a mythic struggle between the American Dream and white supremacy, between the belief that anyone can be what they want to be, if they play by the rules and pay their dues, and the notion that “White is right!” still rules? Does Obama embody the former and Donald Trump embrace the latter? As the people gather in the nation’s square cries of joy and acrimony fill the air. But when the dust clears which road ahead will the nation forge?
Staff Writer; Arthur Lewin
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