Today is the official observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I’m blessed to observe this day as a holiday and am disappointed by how few people are joining me in this observance.

For the fact is that Dr. King made a significant impact on American history and on our country. No, he was not a President. For that matter, he never held elective office.

Why then, do we take this time to observe his birthday? Because he did the one thing that this blog most stands for – he changed the world!

Through his advocacy of peaceful non-violence, he led America to become a better place. His efforts led to the creation of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 that opened the doors to ever more voters and especially those who had been oppressed.

I often ponder what Dr. King would think if he were alive today. Would he be proud of the U.S. or weary from the struggles to advocate change. For, I do not think he would have ever stopped speaking for the rights of the oppressed.

When I was younger and didn’t fully understand the harm of prejudice, I thought Dr. King’s dream had come to reality. Hey, I was a kid from not the best neighborhood around and I had made it! I had friends of various ethnic backgrounds. Because I had been raised without prejudice, I really learned about it from my friends of color.

The more I learned, the sadder and often angrier, I would become. This would lead me to actions that periodically landed me in uncomfortable places. I thought that by the late 70’s, prejudice should have been gone. I couldn’t believe there was a restaurant in my college town that had not yet been integrated. Thus, friends and I took action to ensure that it accepted ALL customers.

When I started my own business in 1989, we had the mission of “changing the face of politics”. This was actually meant to help drive change away from intrinsic “ole’ boy” systems and to modernize government. We had a diverse team of staff. We periodically found that, even in the early 90’s, there were restaurants that didn’t prefer to host our staff meetings. For we were white, brown, black, asian, and mixed – male and female. No doubt, a rather scary group, even for that time period.

Now, I watch my son. His school hosts so many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Nothing is unusual for him. At the ripe age of 9, he knows about Dr. King, Eid celebrations, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Cinco de Mayo, Chinese New Year and so much more. Each child is encouraged to teach the other children about cultural celebrations.

Does that mean that Dr. King’s dream has come true? Not completely. We will never be wholly without prejudice. But we are making progress.

What have you done lately to ensure you and your family include diversity in your life? Houston provides an endless supply of opportunity with our amazingly diverse microcosm of the world.

Pause for a moment today and think about how far we have come…… even though we still have far to go.