Saturday Night Live did a brief satirical piece on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., where his ghost returned to comment on the advances that African Americans have made in the last 47 years since his death. The comic portraying him kept referring to the ever elusive climb to the top of the mountain alluded to in one of Rev. King’s many memorable and inspirational speeches. The mountain seems to have gotten higher and the climb harder. Indeed, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day the nation and the President are still struggling with issues of race and discrimination.
Although in Canada, I lived through the sixties’ civil rights movement as covered extensively by American and Canadian media on television and in news print. As a teenager in High School, I remember the coverage of the now famous Selma march, the assassination of Rev. King and subsequent civil rights’ activity by the American federal government. The images of police brutality against peaceful demonstrators and the resulting public outrage are burned into my memory. I knew then as I know now that race relations in both countries would never be the same. Testimony to this was the election of a black President. African Americans today have the right to vote. Their civil rights are protected under law. All of which can be largely attributed to Rev. King and his calls for justice, action and civil disobedience in the 1960s.
However, President Obama has had to tread a fine line when it comes to matters of race relations. His game plan is one of seeking steady progress within the system, most often with calls for restraint, lawful demonstrations and commissions of inquiry. Following the fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, he deployed the U.S. Attorney General to investigate whether a young black’s civil rights had been violated. The President also wants to work with law enforcement officials to improve race relations, often incurring the wrath of black constituents. Sometimes the President is caught between a rock and a hard place, damned if you do and damned if you don’t. No easy task, especially for a black President — so give the guy a break!
Here in Canada, race relations are a bit better largely due to our history and laws. However, when it comes to our native population that’s another matter. Just as blacks make up a disproportionate number of inmates in U.S. prisons, so do native males and females make up a disproportionate number of inmates in Canadian prisons. Crimes against native women far outweigh those against Canadian women in general. Canadians have a ways to go to improve native relations. There is also a need to deal with the higher number of visible minorities living below the poverty line in both countries. While access to higher education has improved, access to better paying professions is still a concern for visible minorities, in particular recent immigrants. Much more work needs to be done on improving race relations in both countries in order to more quickly climb that intangible mountain.
FROLITICKS 
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