Is King still king?

Every time that Dr. King's birthday and Black History Month rolls around, I think about a question that was brought to my attention a few years ago- "is it bad that we focus on the same African American's every year?"

We're always talking about Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, others from the civil rights movement, Mary Bethune, Oprah Winfrey, etc. That's great! It's important that we learn about our history, but what about the people who are making history today? Unfortunately, I can't even name any besides our President... but that is exactly my point. The people that are trying to make a difference today are just as important as those that came before them.

As far as Dr. King is concerned, when I was in 4th grade we had to color in a picture of him and on the side, I wrote that he would proud that his dream came true. I was too young to really look past the fact that now blacks and whites could be friends. My mother had to explain to me that while things are better, they are far from perfect. As I continued to grow and entered Whitney Young, I began to see what she was talking about. I am fortunate enough to  attend a school that accounts for all types of people in harmony, but the world isn't as warm and welcoming as these halls. When President Obama was first elected, the backlash I saw from people ranting about his skin color astonished me. One time, during my sophmore year, I was taking the bus home and and old man got on the bus and starting ranting at me for my seat. The thing is (a) I was listening to music and looking down so I didn't know he was talking to me (b) there were TONS of open seats all around me. It ended with him getting off the bus 10 minutes laters screaming about how he fought for black, white, purple, and orange. Yeah.

So is King still king? He needs to be. Maybe his relevance will knock some sense into everyone. Racists who continue to spit fire and those within our race who are now fighting against ourselves. Our struggle needs to not be forgotten.