Many Belizeans, who traveled to America during the time of which I speak, were themselves first hand witnesses and even victims of the bane discrimination that prevailed. During those days, televisions in Belize showed little more than snow and bad Spanish stations, so we didn’t know much of what was going on in the civil rights struggle in America. There was of course, no CNN to bring us up to date on the latest church bombings or lynching, and we saw no stories about Bull Connors and his dogs and fire hoses. The closest we in Belize came to seeing anything resembling a Ku Klux Klansman, was a masked marauder named Zorro. Sure we had our problems and still do, but I believe that we might have been spared the worst.

Today January fifteenth, America stops to reflect on his message and to celebrate the birth and life of Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his all to the struggle to set his people free. To appreciate the real impact that King’s life has had on America’s consciousness, one would have to compare a time when blacks could only ride in the back of the bus and could not drink water from the same faucet as white people. A time when blacks were defacto second class citizens and were not even allowed to enter through a front entrance.

Compare that to a day when Michael Jordan, a black man, can walk away from thirty million a year and when Mike Tyson, another black man and this one with an attitude, can make ten million in one night. Compare that time to a day when O.J. Simpson can not only marry a white woman, but be accused of killing her, and live to be exonerated. You have come a long way, America.

America has changed much in the areas of civil rights and much of that change was a direct result of the trials and tribulations of Martin Luther King Jr. As a result of his participation in civil rights activities, Doctor King was arrested thirty-nine times, received daily death threats, and had his home bombed more than once. In September of ’58, King was stabbed in his chest while signing autographs and almost died. Still, this champion of the cause for freedom, justice and equality for all people, forged on with a concept of somebodiness that gave black and poor people the world over, a new sense of worth and dignity. Preaching a creed of non-violence influenced by the teachings of Indian leader Mahatma Ghandi, King warned his followers not to seek to satisfy their thirst for freedom by drinking from the same cup of bitterness and hatred as their oppressors. It is not a matter of violence or nonviolence, said King, but a matter of nonviolence or nonexistence.

At exactly 6:01 on the evening of April 4th, 1968, as he exited his room in a small motel in Memphis, Tennessee a single shot rang out that was heard around the world. The dreamer was stopped, but Martin Luther King’s dream has lived on and we all long for the day when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. The King is dead, long live the King.

Now ten years before the birth of Martin Luther King, in a land far across the sea, there was another leader born. January 15th, is also the birthday of our nation’s Senior Minister and the father of our independence. George Cadle, who brought our nation from the cradle turns a spry eighty years today. Like Luther King, Price’s biggest dream has always been to realize the day when all of his people regardless of race or ethnic background, would sit together at the table of brotherhood. To you Mr. Price, we wish a very happy birthday and may you see many, many more. I believe that one day, we in Belize should also set aside this day to honor this steadfast and humble statesman who has given his life to the service of our nation. While George Price might not have been always right in every decision that he made, there is no doubt that his intentions were always noble and that his efforts were always in the best interest of the Belizean people.