Democrats Abroad will gather at Jerusalem’s First Station on Monday to mark Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day, an American national holiday held every third Monday in January to commemorate King’s birthday. He was born January 15, 1929.
At the gathering, participants will read aloud King’s “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” speech.
“This speech is as poignant and meaningful to Americans now seeking to bend the long, moral arc of the universe toward justice as it was in 1968 when it was delivered the day before MLK died,” said Heather Stone, chairwoman of Democrats Abroad in Israel.The event will take place at noon and is open to the public. Details for the event have been posted Facebook. Participants are asked to bring an American flag.In August, Democrats Abroad recruited hundreds of Israelis to protest the policiesof US immigrant detention camps, in solidarity with concurrent events that took place in the United States. That event took place in Tel Aviv.Also, in honor of MLK Day, WalletHub released a study of the gaps between black and white Americans across 21 key indicators of equality and integration in each of the 50 states and Washington, DC.The study found that when it comes to racial integration – the current integration levels of white and black Americans – the top three most integrated states are New Mexico, Hawaii and Wyoming. The least integrated areas are Iowa, Wisconsin and Washington, DC.Racial integration was determined by subtracting the values attributed to white and black Americans for a variety of metrics, using only the most recent data available. Positively integrated states have smaller gaps between black and white Americans in areas such as income, labor force participation, employment and home ownership.The study also looked at the levels of racial progress achieved over time. The racial progress ranking placed Wyoming, Texas and Mississippi at the top and Maine, South Dakota and Iowa at the bottom.Progress was determined by subtracting the values attributed to white and black Americans for the given metrics, using the oldest possible data available and the most recent. Based on the result, WalletHub calculated the percentage of progress made. Here, too, the study looked at metrics including income level, labor-force participation, employment and home-ownership rates.The study comes on the heels of a recent Pew Research Center report that found 45% of Americans say the US has not done enough to give black Americans rights equal to white Americans, and that 58% of Americans think race relations are “generally bad.” Furthermore, 53% think race relations in the US are getting worse.In addition, a separate study released by Quinnipiac University in August 2019 found that more than half (51%) of US voters think President Donald Trump is racist.When broken down by race, the private poll showed that 46% of white voters think that Trump is racist, compared with 50% who say he is not and 4% who were undecided. Some 80% of black voters and 55% of Hispanic voters say he is racist.“In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. introduced the world to his dream of a colorblind society – one that focuses on character, not on complexion,” WalletHub wrote in the introduction to its study.“America has certainly come closer to realizing Dr. King’s vision. But segregation and discrimination continue to persist.”