In August 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King set forth his vision for a country in which his young children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Conservatives have been quoting this language ever since, and rightly so. Race-based preferences are antithetical to the vision King described that day.
To be fair, that vision was “a dream,” and King did not expressly exclude the possibility of using race-conscious measures to help blacks during the period before that dream became reality.
Still, in his most famous address, King said nothing about a need for such measures, and he supported Civil Rights legislation (the 1964 Act) that contains anti- preference language. Thus, it’s entirely fair for conservatives to cite King’s great line when debating race-based preferences.
Unfortunately, though, the “I have a dream speech” was not King’s last word on the subject.
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