What Matters: May 2003
35 Years Later: Embracing the Challenge of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Kateri García '03
Last February 14, I had the privilege of speaking at MIT's 29th Annual Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was honored, yet humbled to reflect upon, and pay homage to, one of our nation's most courageous and influential figures.
At that convocation, I was proud to share the podium with long-time civil rights leader Julian Bond and with MIT President Charles M. Vest HM who took the opportunity to issue a stirring defense of affirmative action and to announce MIT's amici curiae brief in defense of the University of Michigan's affirmative action policies, a case now before the United States Supreme Court. I am proud to share my remarks with MIT alumni and the MIT community in this What Matters column.
Dr. King will perhaps forever be known in our history's texts as the man with a dream. "I have a dream," he said, "that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Forty years later, we quote Dr. King with a presumption that time has fully realized his dream. Though time has indeed seen our nation through great transformation, even the course of four decades has not been enough to realize the dream. And the theme of this year's MLK celebration, "Faces at the Bottom of the Well: the Nightmare of Reality vs. Dr. King's Dream", reminds us that social injustice is not necessarily a dysfunction of our history, but a tragedy of the present. Social inequality is an issue that we face today, and the dream voiced by Dr. King many decades ago is still only a dream today.
The dream was to make all citizens of the United States truly equal. As we take time to reflect upon the changes of our nation since the days of slavery, since the Emancipation Proclamation, since the days of the Jim Crow laws that created segregation, since the passing of the 13th and the 14th and the 15th Amendments to our Constitution it appears as though we've evolved from the days of racial discrimination. But as Derrick Bell, author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well, points out, our laws have changed but the sentiment of hatred and misunderstanding is still in the hearts of many.
When we look at the faces of the CEOs of corporate America, at the justices of the courts, at the astronauts, at the presidents of these United States, we see that faces of color and women are frightfully underrepresented. Racial disparities, from top executive positions to the unemployed, reflect the presence of that complacent attitude that allows us to settle for less that what we started out towards, and ultimately prevents the equality for which we dream.
Improvement in representation needs to start with our educational system. We here at MIT know what the effects of complacency can be. It is often the difference between achievement and failure. If that problem is present here, then surely it's rooted at primary and secondary educational levels.
The drop out rate of American high school students, especially among minority students, is alarming. The 2000 report from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that while approximately 91.8 percent of all white students complete high school, only 83.7 percent of African Americans, finish high school. And the completion rate for Hispanics is a shocking 64.3 percent. Trends show that this gap is not closing. And what happens after high school? Only about 1/3 of minorities who do graduate from high school will matriculate to college. And of those about 50 percent will graduate.
MIT has been very successful in attracting and maintaining a higher percentage of minority undergraduate students from 7 percent of the total MIT population in 1980 to 18 percent today. However, the rate of graduate students and faculty is a mere 3 percent. The disparities in these statistics are part of the nightmare of reality. And of those who do succeed, many minorities and international students feel the pressures of not only having to succeed for ourselves, but also for the people we represent. If we fail, we fail all those who will come after us.
Minorities in America are the faces at the bottom of society's well. African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics are underrepresented and underpaid in virtually all professions. Society's system is such that the odds are completely against us, yet red flags are being raised against affirmative action and programs such as MITES and Project Interphase to keep us down even longer. The moment that a minority person rises to the top of the well, the people at the top let go of the rope and call us "unqualified," "too conservative," or "too liberal." What they really mean is that we are not white enough. And sometimes, to those in our own communities, we are not Hispanic enough or Black enough. Ah, the double-edged sword of success. Instead of pulling each other back we should be lifting each other up. It is only when we work together that we can make it out of the well.
Look around you. The faces at the bottom of the well are no different from you or me or anyone else. Ask yourselves how you beat the odds against society and made it to and through MIT. And when you leave this place, will you return to the community you left behind? Like Dr. King, will we face the challenge and "return to the south," or will we forget that we too were once faces at the bottom of the well?
Dr. King is one of the most visionary and fearless men of his time and of times to come. It was with his courage to return to the South and be an instrument of hope and earth-moving change that carried forward the strides toward civil rights, economic equality, and social justice for all. But he could not have done it alone. Dr. King used his God-given talents to unite people of all colors, economic backgrounds, and religions. He didn't say "it's not my problem," but he dared to dream. He embraced the challenge and sent his bucket down to the bottom of the well time and again. Dr. King's dream lives on and will continue to come true as long as we make Dr. King's dreams of freedom, justice and equality our own dreams; as long as we continue as he did, to help pull up those faces at the bottom of the well.
About the Author
Kateri García '03, the daughter of David and Ana García of Albuquerque, NM, is the first engineer/scientist in her family. She was the 2002-2003 president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and graduated with an SB in mechanical engineering. Kateri returned home to Albuquerque for a few weeks this summer before heading to West Africa where she and a team of MIT students are testing out the Kinkajou Projector in World Education classrooms in Mali. In August 2003 she will begin working full-time as a mechanical engineer for Medtronic.
What Matters is a guest opinion column written by a different MIT alumnus or alumna. The views expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Alumni Association or MIT. Interested in writing a column? Email whatmatters@mit.edu.
