Contemplating two very different Americas

On Monday, January 21, we celebrate both Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and the inauguration of Barack Obama. Much has happened between the Civil Rights Movement, which began in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education, to the election of America’s first bi-racial president to another term in office.

In April of 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support the sanitation workers striking for better working conditions and a living wage. Not only had he fought discrimination against all minorities in this country, he also committed himself to achieving social justice for all through nonviolent...