To the Point
Dr. King's Dream and American Politics
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a colorblind society. Forty-three years after he was gunned down, the first black president is running for re-election. Barack Obama has been criticized by African-Americans, including Cornell West and Tavis Smiley, for failing to focus more on the problems of black people.
By Warren Olney • • 1 min readDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a colorblind society. Forty-three years after he was gunned down, the first black president is running for re-election. Barack Obama has been criticized by African-Americans, including Cornell West and Tavis Smiley, for failing to focus more on the problems of black people. Republican challengers have called him a "food stamp president" who doesn't "understand America" and wants to "transform" it into a "socialist" country. Is that political code implying that a black man is different from other Americans? Is race still very much a part of American politics?
Warren Olney
former KCRW broadcaster
Andrea Brody
Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast
Anna Scott
Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter
Karen Radziner
Managing Producer, To the Point & Which Way LA?
Peniel Joseph
historian and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and founding director of the school’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy
Marie Stroughter
African American Conservatives
Walter Rhett
historian and writer