In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little 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.”
Based on his interview for the March issue of Ebony Magazine, actor Samuel L. Jackson does not share Dr. King’s vision. In the interview, Mr. Jackson said the sole reason he voted for President Obama was because he is black, and his message didn’t matter.
Just because someone shares your skin color, religion or other common trait doesn’t mean they represent your best interests or the best interests of the nation. This is a lesson Mr. Jackson should have learned from Dr. King or from his own film career when he played Carl Lee Hailey in A Time to Kill.
In this film, based on a John Grisham novel of the same name, Carl Lee kills two men to avenge the rape and attempted murder of his young daughter. This sets off a torrent of racial animosity in the small Mississippi town where these events occur. The fact that Carl Lee chooses a young, inexperienced, white attorney, Jake Brigance, doesn’t sit well with some, mainly the leadership, in the black community.
There comes a point in the movie when we all get to see that, to the leaders of the black community, this case is more about race and politics than it is about seeing Carl Lee set free.
In a meeting at the courthouse, Carl Lee lets everyone know he sees that a black community leader is just trying to curry favor with the NAACP and make a political statement and the NAACP is looking to use Carl Lee as a political pawn.
In the end, Carl Lee decides to stick with Jake as his attorney because, regardless of his skin color, he knows Jake has his best interests at heart. Carl Lee knows Jake doesn’t want him to go to the gas chamber and will do his best to see that he is found not guilty.
Along the way, some of the characters learn about the perils of viewing the world through a prejudicial lens. It clouds our judgment and can lead to poor decisions. Mr. Jackson and those who take a similar view toward candidates would be wise to keep this in mind.
Samuel L. Jackson is one of the people my previous employer Herman Cain was referring to when he said many black people have been “brainwashed” to vote for Democrats. They judge candidates by the letter next to their name, rather than their ability to fulfill Dr. King’s dream and the content of their character and policies.
Our nation will be far better off when we adhere to Dr. King’s vision and the real Carl Lee’s of the world instead of judging our politicians based on color of their skin or the letter next to their name.
