It is no longer 1968, and the struggles people of color have had to face in generations past are no longer the ones faced by their children and grandchildren. In fact, the latter have discovered that there are giants in the land of promise. Though they have stepped into a place flowing with milk and honey, the struggle is far from over. Speaking prophetically, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned a time when "a true revolution of values [would] soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies." In that poignant speech delivered a year before his assassination, however, one of his most insightful remarks seems to have gotten lost amid a growing cloud of self-praise and shortsightedness.
King explained that true compassion could not remain mere charity. Instead, compassion had to see that "an edifice which produces beggars needs [itself] restructuring." With the rise of multiculturalism and the construction of "the dreamer" as an American idol, King's dream became a utopian impossibility that, frozen in time, served more as a moral guidepost than as a timely program to be fleshed out. I speak not of his dream for integration; integration was but one part of a larger vision, a vision to see every individual, every community lifted to the dignity of a humane life by way of economic stability, social uplift and political participation. Of course, this vision could not be enacted with the simple stroke of a pen — true visions hardly ever can. On the contrary, pen strokes — such as Ronald Reagan signing Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday into a federal holiday — may indeed work against the very dreams of those who envisioned them.
However, the field is open, and the opportunity, ripe. With recent movements like Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and the "I am UndocuQueer!" project, perhaps King's words will take on new life. Now that the horrors of transnational capitalism and the farce of contemporary American democracy have become all too apparent, perhaps the time for King's dream has come. With these words, I do not mean to confuse opportunity with inevitability. Surely, these times — our times — are aching with potential, but they are also wrought with great danger. Let us not forget the failed experiments of the twentieth century. The necessity of our present circumstances, however, does not allow us the luxury of mere conversation. We are forced to dream, forced to awaken, and to walk.
This Saturday, Feb. 11, BrandHaiti is hosting its second annual business symposium, entitled "Investing in Haiti: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities." Bringing the entrepreneurial potential of Haiti to the forefront while deconstructing the negative economic conceptions associated with the country, the symposium will provide a forum for prominent members from the business community and social activism initiatives to discuss the promising future of a Haiti with considerable force in the global market and a better standard of living for its citizens. As a non-profit, student-led marketing organization, BrandHaiti invites the entire Tufts community to participate in rebranding Haiti's image. Through four panels with Q&A sessions, the symposium will explore entrepreneurship, investment industries, infrastructure and economic development and the role of Diaspora in promoting growth.
Far from wishful thinking, this symposium is a dream dreamt awake. It asks how a vision shared over forty years ago may come to fruition, how the Haitian economy and, through it, the Haitian people may continue to rise to economic stability, social uplift and political participation. It is important to keep in mind that the approved annual budget for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti stands at a whopping $800 million. With Haiti's national budget of two billion dollars, the price tag for cholera epidemics seems more of a hindrance than an aid for the Haitian people, especially when more than half of the national budget is funded by outside sources, recolonizing an already vulnerable economy. BrandHaiti calls the Tufts community to reflect on the problems inherent in this ‘philanthropy,' how Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words press us to move beyond band-aid solutions and toward sustainable change and development.
I close with the Biblical illustration of Lazarus, who, once resurrected, needed to be unbound. According to the text, the words of Jesus sufficed to raise Lazarus from the tomb. Interestingly, however, it took the help of his brothers and sisters to unwrap him from his burial attire. The relevance of this story applies not only to the Haitian people who seek to exchange their ashes for garments of joy, but also to us, the Tufts community. As we awaken from the death caves of self-centeredness, false consciousness and paralyzing skepticism, let it not be the failure of our generation to regrettably say, "We stood, but never walked; inhaled, but never spoke." Again, the field is open, the opportunity, ripe. Though I cannot fully predict the consequences of our actions, of one thing I am radically convinced: Our inaction will certainly result in failure, potentials left bound up, dreams left nostalgic memories. With BrandHaiti providing one of the most concrete opportunities this Saturday, I challenge us, Tufts, to dream — to dream awake.
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Adrian Emmanuel Hernandez-Acosta is a senior majoring in religion and music.
