Two months after the assassination of Dr. King, Earl G. Graves Sr. escorts Mrs. Coretta Scott King on June 8th, 1968 to the funeral of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

It’s fair to say that we have done justice to King’s memory. But the truth is America has not done justice to his dream. In fact, I and the rest of King’s generation, now between the ages of 70 and 85, owe King an apology. Due to our lack of leadership and accountability, and despite the conspicuous success of a minority of African Americans, we have failed to do what it takes to lead our people to the promised land of freedom, equality, and the full measure of the American dream.

King’s dream was about equal opportunity and economic justice for all black Americans, not just an exceptional few. After making progress toward those goals into the late ’80s, we somehow lost our desire to pursue King’s agenda. Ultimately, we simply stopped fighting, as if we no longer believed that what King died for was worth continuing to sacrifice and fight for. And for that, Dr. King, I am sorry. You left us with an example and a challenge to make a better world for our children. And we’ve failed you.

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The evidence shows that our failure is as complete as it is indisputable.  Nearly 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, American education remains largely segregated by race, with black children bearing the brunt of failing public schools. We’re failing King in economic justice. Today, the wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans is wider than ever, and black-owned businesses remain largely excluded from economic power centers—from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Wall Street and Madison Avenue. The quality of life for African Americans in our urban centers has hardly improved, and in many cases, has worsened, since many urban areas were destroyed by riots in the aftermath of King’s assassination. Sadly, in nearly every area, from healthcare outcomes to high school drop-out rates to entire generations of African Americans trapped in our prison system, the world we’re leaving to our children and grandchildren is no better than the one we inherited.

I was assigned by Sen. Robert Kennedy to assist Coretta Scott King with getting her slain husband’s body from Memphis to Atlanta. I know intimately the ultimate sacrifice that King made—based on the promise of future generations—so that we would have the opportunities that we enjoy today. It’s a promise we have failed to keep.

Our fight for freedom and justice is not over. We have not won. Memorials aside, my generation owes an apology to King for having dropped the baton, for not taking the torch he lit and running with it. Now, it is up to our children and grandchildren to continue the fight to ensure that King’s dream is deferred no longer, and that all African Americans, not just a select, privileged, or fortunate few, reach the promised land of freedom, equality, justice, and opportunity.

Mary Mary shares gospel truth with host Marc Lamont Hill. (Photo courtesy Columbia Records)

This week on Our World with Black Enterprise, host Marc Lamont Hill sits down with contemporary gospel music stars Erica and Tina Atkins-Campbell, better known as Mary Mary.

Often credited, along with Kirk Franklin, for broadening the fan base of urban contemporary gospel by introducing elements of soul music, hip-hop, funk and jazz, Mary Mary broke onto the music scene with their popular song “Shackles (Praise You),” which is considered one of the genre’s pioneering songs. Their debut album Thankful (2000) was certified platinum. The duo has released three gold albums, including Incredible (2002), and Mary Mary (2005), which all charted No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums.

The sisters grew up as part of a large family of nine children in Inglewood, California. Their parents are Thomasina, an evangelist and choir director at the Evangelistic Church of God in Christ, and Eddie, a youth minister. In their conversation with Hill, the duo share personal insights on their faith, music, family and their careers.

Also, in this week’s On The Record segment, Hill talks with Night Catches Us director Tanya Hamilton, Mooz-lum writer/director Qasim Basir and Urbanworld Film Festival executive producer Gabrielle Glore about the state of independent films and Black filmmakers.

Our Slice of Life segment profiles Dr. James P. Lee, an Ann Arbor, Mich. dentist who created Free Dental Care Day in recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Our World with Black Enterprise is the award-winning weekly 30-minute program, hosted by Marc Lamont Hill, providing a fresh mix of interviews with today’s top newsmakers and celebrities, eclectic roundtable discussions concerning the hottest topics affecting African Americans, and profiles of some of the world’s most intriguing people.

Click here for times and stations where Our World with Black Enterprise airs in your area.

James Shields mapping out his dreams in color

In 2008, Howard graduate James Shields found himself sitting at a cubical punching numbers into Excel. At 23-years-old he was gainfully employed as an assistant buyer for Macy’s in New York City. Given media outlets continually reporting on the growing unemployment rate among millennials entering the real world, he was happy to have a job but he wasn’t inspired. The “repetitive atmosphere” pushed a bored Shields to begin doodling on his work papers.

“I started carrying a separate folder to keep track of my designs,” he recalls. “The appreciation of being creative wasn’t shared… It was such an extreme that it directed me to do what I enjoyed. I realized that my talents laid elsewhere.”

His boss agreed and Shields was laid off within 10 months. Finally free to explore his dreams, he says, “That was the greatest thing ever.” The first year he collected unemployment, but within the next two years Shields was able to live completely off his art, which consisted mostly of graffiti-inspired outlines and depictions of iconic figures, such as, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Learning the business “by trial and error,” he sought out mentors who shared their knowledge and pushed Shields to tap into his latent talents. “I was never a professional artist,” he admits, “but God gave me the buffer to learn how to sell my art.”

Social media played a part, too, for the now 26-year-old to grow his list of supporters. As his clientele grew so did his mediums for creative expression. Shields made a name for himself plastering images on numerous client’s skateboards, among other canvases. It wasn’t long before Shields switched gears from painting to pursue his true childhood dream. “I always wanted to create a coloring book because I think traditional coloring books stop people’s creativity,” he says. “They make kids feel like they have to draw within the lines.”

So on December 10th, the self-described “hip-hop enthusiast” presented, The Hip-Hop Coloring Book ($15), which is the first of a five volume series, at the Charles Bank gallery in New York City. “It was my first big opening,” he says proudly of the event, which pulled in over 200 attendees.

In the soft cover, Shields introduces young readers to legendary hip-hop acts like Afrika Bambaataa, the founder of the Zulu Nation; Kurtis Blow, who released the first platinum selling record; and Fab 5 Freddy, co-creator of the first hip-hop movie Wild Style. Through his work he also exposes children to historical NYC neighborhoods related to the culture’s evolution. The information is incorporated in fun ways like playing connect-the-dots to discover hip-hop facts or doing a rap word search. Kids are even challenged to test their language skills when assigned the task of penning an acceptance speech. “The reward doesn’t come with who colors inside the lines the best,” says Shields. “The reward is by completing the artwork. It’s a self-rewarding activity that comes with participation.”

Click here to download the Hip-Hop Coloring Book now.

Hip-hop fans will also appreciate the new coffee table book, Hip Hop, A Cultural Odyssey. To purchase your copy of Hip Hop, A Cultural Odyssey click here and every 10 books sold will result in a copy being donated to a HBCU library.

Bank of America is set to eliminate at least 10,000 jobs (Image: Thinkstock)

• Bank of America Cutting More Than 10,000 Jobs

Bank of America is set to eliminate at least 3,500 jobs in the coming months, as the beleaguered financial giant seeks to cut costs and restructure amid deepening shareholder dissatisfaction.

Read more at the New York Times…

• Black Researchers Trail Behind in Obtaining Grants

Even with equal training and research merits, a new study reveals that Black researchers still have trouble securing federal medical research money compared to other racial groups.

The study, reported on by USA Today, shows that Black researchers have about two-thirds of the chance of Whites to receive grant funding. But Black researchers aren’t just lagging behinds Whites in their efforts to secure funding.

Read more at The Atlanta Post…

• Michelle Rhee Challenged at Martha’s Vineyard Forum

Former District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was a frequent target at a forum on education on Martha’s Vineyard last night. Rhee, who resigned as head of district schools after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his re-election bid last year, took shots from both education historian Diane Ravitch and Harvard sociologist Lawrence Bobo.

Read more at The Root…

• King’s Nephew Set to Head Civil Rights Group

Two and a half weeks after the sudden death of its president, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has named a nephew of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as its new leader.

Isaac Newton Farris Jr., 48, was elected on Monday (Aug. 15) to lead the Atlanta-based organization that has mobilized churches to fight discrimination.

Read more at HuffPost Black Voices…

• iPad 3 Coming in Early 2012

Apple has reportedly begun trial production on its next-generation iPad tablet device and it’s scheduled to launch in early 2012.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has begun ordering chips, display panels and other key components for the iPad 3. It is reportedly expected to feature a high resolution (2048×1536), 9.7-inch display, up from the iPad 2′s 9.5-inch, 1024×768 display. (The report didn’t say anything about the iPad 3′s rumored OLED screen, however.)

Read more at Mashable…

Minorities will face a growing retirement security gap with deficit cuts (Image: Thinkstock)

• Minority Retirement Options Will Dwindle with Deficit Cuts

New research finds an appalling 20 to one chasm in net worth between white and black Americans, and an 18 to one gap between whites and Hispanics. The Pew Research Center found that the net worth gap has widened during the Great Recession, mainly because the housing bust disproportionately cut into the wealth of African-Americans and Hispanics.

The housing crash hurt these households disproportionately because they tended not to have much in the way of other assets, especially when it came to retirement savings. So, the Pew report — an analysis of the comprehensive U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Program Participation for 2009—points to a terribly important social problem we face today – and the growing retirement security gap confronting minority households.

Read more at Reuters…

• Poll: 4 in 10 Approve of Obama’s Job on Debt-ceiling Talks

Americans don’t like the way President Obama or the top leaders in Congress are handling the negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows.

Four in 10 Americans approve of the way Obama is dealing with Congress in the high-stakes battle to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion in borrowing authority, the poll shows.

Read more at USA Today…

• SCLC Leader Howard Creecy Jr. Dies

The civil rights community has lost Howard Creecy Jr., the Atlanta pastor who stepped up to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after Bernice King — daughter of SCLC co-founder Martin Luther King Jr. — declined to lead the civil rights organization.

Read more at The Root…

• Promoted Tweets Set to Appear in Your Twitter Timeline

Twitter users will start seeing ads in their timeline over the next few weeks. The company officially announced on Thursday that a new Promoted Tweets option will roll out with a number of advertisers.

Read more at Mashable…

National March for Lesbian/Gay Rights (Image: File)

As the discussion over gay rights continues, so, too, does the debate as to whether the gay rights issue is a civil rights issue, namely one that some say is reflective of the black civil rights movement. In the upcoming film, The New Black, filmmaker Yoruba Richen explores the histories of the African American and LGBT civil rights movements. “The film specifically looks at homophobia in the Black church, and how the Christian right has exploited this phenomenon that exists in order to promote an anti-gay political agenda,” says Richen. Her project is demonstrative of how the parallels and distinctions between the African American and gay rights movements are complex and multi-layered.

“As both of these movements have reached maturation we have multiple generations working for civil rights,” says J. Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. “Right now you would be talking about grandchildren and children of civil rights activists. Our elders were Black Panthers and marching with [Martin Luther King Jr]. Not only have we learned from them, but when we start talking about identity politics it’s apparent that many of us embody multiple identities.”

In light of the recent advances in gay rights policies, such as the legalization of same sex marriage in New York, the civil rights movement may seem to be a part of the past, but Alotta asserts that’s not the case. “We haven’t eradicated racism and we do live in a country built on slavery right now,” she says. “There are plenty of queer people of color whose experiences prove that every day. There are multiple movements going on. Surely the American civil rights movement set the standard for civil rights movements going today.”

Black and gay activists have always played a formidable role in the civil rights movement, but weren’t necessarily widely accepted. “We have progressively gotten to a place where people could voice desires,” says Herb Green, who teaches early African American literature in the English department at the City College of San Francisco. Green is also on faculty in the school’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered [LGBT] Studies Department. “With the turn of the century things are shifting quickly as technology and modernism changes the social dynamic,” he says. “People have access to more information.”

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Civil & gay rights activist, Bayard Rustin (Image: Getty)

That wasn’t always the case. Consider Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist who was the key organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. “Bayard Rustin was an integral part of the civil rights movement,” Green says. “He was a gay Black man and worked closely with King. But when it came time to have him as a representative of the struggle, people were nervous.”

Green also says that African American author James Baldwin, a fervent activist who participated in the civil rights march, was also criticized for his sexual orientation. This schism has gradually shifted with organizations, such as the National Black Justice Coalition, that are committed to protecting the rights of Black LGBT people and bridging gaps between them and members of the straight community of color.

But as the gay rights movement gains momentum, some Black LGBT activists caution against making comparisons to the civil rights movement by predominantly White gay rights organizations. Kenyon Farrow is co-editing a book called Stand Up! The Shifting Politics of Racial Uplift, which will be published in the spring. “I’m often troubled by it, as someone who has worked in LGBT specific work,” Farrow says. “The people that are working in gay organizations say that the same people who don’t want us to get married are the same people who sent Rosa Parks to the back of the bus. They have zero to none practical experience working on racial justice movements. To me the problem is that they aren’t actually interested in racial justice and they’re only interested in using the narrative of the civil rights movement. The comparison is not right because there are different sets of issues.”

Farrow doesn’t discount the impact of homophobia on the Black LGBT community, but says that it manifests in different ways. “When you do the polling in the Black community around these issues, it’s unmistakable that the majority of Black folks in the U.S. are uncomfortable with same sex marriage, mostly for reasons that fall under religious terms, the Bible or the Koran. That is one piece,” he says. “But when you look at the polling around how Black people feel, they are overwhelmingly in favor of ending employment discrimination, they are overwhelmingly in support of people not being subjected to violence and not being discriminated against in terms of housing. You shouldn’t be able to mess with someone’s money or ability to provide. We need to work around those sets of issues.”

One area where progress is being made in the Black LGBT community is in preventing bullying of LGBT teens. The Out and UpFront Project is a youth leadership initiative organized by the Ruth Ellis Center to train LGBT youth in advocacy, leadership, and civic engagement to stop bullying of LGBT teens in Detroit, which will take place later this month. “Black and brown LGBT teens feel particularly targeted and have disproportionate drop out rates,” Farrow says. “That’s an issue you can have a conversation about. The fight in the Black community is a fight about culture, and not so much policy. How do we change and challenge the culture about homophobia? That to me is where the interesting work is happening. [Comedienne] Mo’Nique has LGBT folks on her show. We’re visible in ways that wasn’t happening five years ago.”

• LGBT RESOURCES:
• Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network
• Human Rights Campaign
• Out & Equal
• Read more about being Black & Gay in Corporate America in the July issue of Black Enterprise magazine, on stands July 19, 2011