Every year, we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday on the third Monday in January. Most American cities have a street named after him. Even the most simple-minded folks know the famous phrase 'I have a dream...,' but the dream is still but a dream.

Back the civil rights 60s, it was mainly about black rights in a white man's world. These days, we have immigration issues, religious issues, and if you go to certain areas of America, it's still about black rights in a white man's world.

What are we celebrating? Martin Luther King Jr. preached the path of non-violent protest and hopeful positive thinking. Sounds good. Of course, the biggest protests in recent history were against invading Iraq over four years ago. The protests occurred all over the world. They were hundreds of thousands. They were non-violent. They were peaceful. They were full of hope & positive thinking. They all had one simple message 'Don't invade Iraq.'

This week, our president suggested more troops in Iraq to help end the war he initiated over four years ago. He didn't listen to the protests. He praised their right to have them and heeded none of their simple peaceful non-violent advice. What a different world it would be if the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. was somewhere in our president while considering to invade Iraq. For just a dash of irony, I'm sure the president will praise MLK some time some where on the holiday.

On the surface, it looks like we all know what we're supposed to do. If you're white, you cannot say the word 'nigger.' Michael Richards (a.k.a. Kramer) proved this point late last year. I personally think it was a clever retort to hecklers until he flipped out and said it over and over at the top of his lungs. This, of course, is despite the irony that black comedians & rappers say the word in every other sentence. If you listen to rappers & comedians say 'nigger' enough, you start saying it yourself. Trust me. The message has been mixed for a long time.

There was a dream about black children & white children sitting together in school, and nowadays that happens. These days, the dream is more about rich children and poor children sitting in the same classroom getting a quality education. Talk about dreaming. The concept of quality education is lost on me. The rich live in their million dollar homes going to the million dollar schools that look like a millions dollars. Meanwhile, the poor kids go to a poor school in a poor district and receive a poor education. It's not black and white any more. It's green or no green.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian preacher, but you never heard him bad mouth Muslims. He didn't agree with the tactics of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, but you never heard him say anything bad about their faith. We still have Jews and Muslims fighting. We keep identifying terrorists & insurgents as Islamic extremists. At the very least, it's bad press for the entire faith-based religion.

Nevertheless, we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday every year. Somewhere in America, a child will memorize & recite the 'I Have A Dream' speech. Celebrations and speeches will be made. The day after that, we put MLK back in the drawer for another year. Well, a few folks will keep him around for Black History Month, but no one gets off work for it.

I wish I could say things are getting better on the race front, and on some levels, they are. I believe blacks have assimilated into the American culture more than any other, but assimilation is not exactly the most flattering term for any culture. Indians have casinos. Hispanics have the numbers. If I keep going the stereotypes will get a little thick.

See? Even when we try to describe the situation, it seems like we have make sure we don't overtly offend any group of people. As a result, people just don't talk about it at all. We don't want to offend, even when people deserve to be offended. We walk on egg shells on the issue of race. I don't hate any group of people, but that doesn't necessarily mean I embrace everything every race consistently does. I'm non-violent in my thinking. I'm peaceful in my intentions. I initially assume the best out of people regardless of their race, creed & culture. But still...but still...it seems like we have the same problems from fifty years ago but in different forms.

I will keep dreaming for a better tomorrow. I used to think the old bigots would just die out, and the positive youth would take over. Unfortunately, I think we have new types of bigots being raised. Not so much about race (although it's still there), but social class, creed and culture still bring a lot of prejudice.

Keep dreaming, keep celebrating MLK Day & stay tuned to what is really going on.

Chris Jungle has given up on protests.