Invoking The Dream
On this Martin Luther King Day, civil rights activists are preparing to protest George W. Bush's inauguration at the end of this week - and are planning for the long-term political future.
"One of the first things I hope we do because of what happened in this most recent voter cycle is to do massive voter registration than before. More than ever before the vote is where the focus should be," Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights leader for whom the national holiday is named, told CBS News' The Early Show on Monday.
As Mr. Bush is sworn in as the nation's 43rd president on Saturday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson will lead a march in the Florida state capital of Tallahassee. That same day, the Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a "Shadow Inauguration" at the U.S Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
These demonstrations are meant to highlight African-American concerns about the alleged disenfranchisement of minority voters in Florida during November's presidential election.
"The right to vote and be counted is the supreme right in a democracy, from which all other rights, privileges and protections flow," Jackson said in New York on Sunday. "January 20 is the beginning of the campaign to protect our democracy in 2002.
"Those who stop the clock will not be able to turn back the clock. They'll meet stiff resistance from the dreamers," he said, referring to Dr. King's 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech.
Barely more than a month ago, Mr. Bush was declared the winner in Florida by 537 votes after a bitter post-election legal battle with Vice President Al Gore that lasted five weeks. This outcome delivered the state's 25 electoral votes - and the keys to the Oval Office - to the man who is now president-elect.
Most blacks - both in Florida and across the country - voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Gore - the national popular vote winner - over Mr. Bush, the Republican. But one in 11 ballots in the predominantly black voting precincts in Florida was tossed out, according to a New York Times analysis of the Sunshine State's black vote.
"The reality is in 1965, my father and others fought to get the right to vote, but did not know that in 2000 we'd have to work to get the vote counted," Martin Luther King III told The Early Show on Monday.
Both Jackson and Sharpton are suing Florida election officials for their handling of the Sunshine State's presidential vote - and they're demanding a Justice Department probe into alleged civil rights violations. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has filed its own lawsuit. Just last week, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also looked into the controversy.
While the allegations were not central to the Gore-Bush struggle over the Florida vote in the courts, these concerns persist in the African-American community. And, along a pair of Mr. Bush's Cabinet picks, these concerns loom over the inoming administration of the former Texas governor, a man who promised to be a "uniter, not a divider" in his bid for the White House.
On Sunday, Jackson said Dr. King, if alive today, would be leading the effort against "disenfranchisement of minority voters," as well as against Mr. Bush's choice of former Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri as attorney general - and New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jackson added the strategy on the Bush Cabinet appointments would be to put pressure on Senate members who must confirm the appointments.
"The Democratic senators must uphold the standards of civil rights and social justice, workers' rights and environmental protections," he said. "These Democrats ... must reach out to those Republicans who are most civil to join a commitment."
And Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) - the reverend's son - echoed the civil rights opposition to the Ashcroft pick on Monday.
"They fundamentally believe that one Missouri Compromise is enough," the younger Jackson told The Early Show.
"If you voted on the south side of Chicago or in California, because of what happened in Florida, your vote ultimately did not count for the candidate of your choice. That's a problem," he said of the Florida outcome.
Ashcroft's conservative record has come under fire from liberal groups, including advocates of gun control, abortion rights, and the environment.
Critics who accuse Whitman of being too slow to acknowledge that New Jersey State Police troopers were targeting minorities for traffic stops intend to target her by sending senators a photo of her "patting down" a black man in police custody, the elder Jackson said.
In addition, Rev. Jackson noted on Sunday that the 1965 Voting Rights Act expires in 2007, and warned that it could be abolished by opponents. Dr. King's Selma march that year led to the act, which permitted Southern blacks to register to vote in large numbers for the first time.
On Monday, Dr. King's son was asked about his father's "I Have A Dream" speech, in which he said he dreamed that his 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."
As one of those small children, Martin Luther King III was asked whether he thought his father's dream in 1963 was a reality today.
"I'd say components of 'the Dream' have been achieved," he told The Early Show. "But, again, we have a long, long way to go before freedom, justice and equality becomes real for all humankind."