Harry Belafonte

What is the future of our civil rights movement?

It the 1960's, we knew who was being left behind. We knew whose rights had to be fought for. Discrimination was blatant. Segregation was public policy.

Today it is not always so obvious. There are moments, yes, like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when entrenched poverty and racism are revealed. But for the most part, our nation has slipped into a quiet numbness, a resignation and acceptance of the vast inequalities that separate us.

Now, there are a growing number of Americans who fall into the category of have-nots for unappreciated reasons -- because they have no access to health care, because their jobs are going overseas, because their children are educated in profoundly inadequate school systems where they are groomed for jail cells rather than college. We need organizations like the Drum Major Institute because they call attention to this crisis and provide a road map to legislators so they can do something about it.

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The future of our movement cannot begin until we name the problem, that a growing number of people have no access to the American Dream that inspired so many of us to risk our lives in the name of civil rights. The Drum Major Institute isn't afraid to speak the truth about what we see, because it is only then that we can find solutions. And we do need solutions. Vision alone isn't enough. We need to show that we are not just dreamers, but that we can create policy that will create a more just and equitable nation.

Who will tell the story that defines our nation? Will it be the powerful? The corporate interests? Or will it be the people, those who are fighting for a better world.

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Today, the Drum Major Institute tells the story of America. They give young leaders, working in the trenches of the struggle, a chance to weigh in on public policy along side the "experts" who sometimes speak from "on high". When these outside voices are given the resources, the research, the communications support to deliver their knowledge of how policy plays out in the real world and what policies are needed instead, we will find ourselves armed with ideas that can win the fight for justice and truly make the American Dream within everyone's reach.

Drum Major was founded by a friend of mine, Harry Wachtel, who was a loyal servant of the movement. Just as people from all different backgrounds united in the civil rights era, we need to come together again to tackle its unfinished business.

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