As I reflect on Martin Luther Kings’ legacy, and the distance that we have travelled over the 52 years since his “I Have a Dream Speech,” I am struck by how much farther we have to go, as a nation, and as a state.

A recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed that the well-being of Wisconsin’s African-American children is the worst in the nation. That means it is worse to be an African-American child in Wisconsin than among “the red hills of Georgia,” and worse than in Mississippi, a state that in Dr. King’s words was “sweltering in the heat of injustice and oppression.”

When Dr. King gave his famous speech it had been one hundred years since the Emancipation Proclamation. It is now over 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, and unfortunately, Dr. King’s words still ring true today:

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. 

We all remember and are moved by the “I Have a Dream” portion of the speech, but today I am thinking about an earlier passage, where he said:

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

I too feel “the fierce urgency of now.” We cannot afford to let even one more day go by that we don’t change the egregious, worst-in-the-nation status of Wisconsin’s African-American children and families. We know that a two-generation approach that focuses on family-supporting jobs for parents and high quality education for children can make a real difference.  So as you reflect this day on what you can do to increase equity, please think about the passion and gifts you can bring to create change in your community, and join people from across this great state in developing two-generation approaches to make justice a reality for all of our children. Please join us in the fierce urgency of now, we don’t have a moment to lose.

Ken Taylor, Executive Director