The Dream Deferred

Martin Luther King III was just five years old when his father delivered the sermon that rocked a nation. On August 28, 1963, he couldn't have known how his father's dream would shape the civil-rights movement, U.S. politics, and his own life forever.

Today, King serves as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by his father in 1957 to combat segregation and racism through grassroots activism. Although the SCLC no longer enjoys the visibility it did during his father's heyday, King is working hard to restore passion, purpose, and relevance to the organization through education and community building.

In an interview with fastcompany.com in advance of his RealTime Philadelphia keynote presentation, the elder son of America's greatest civil-rights leader examines the new economy's broken promises and missed opportunities. Here, King challenges today's leaders to bring the dream to life through economic growth, digital innovation, and community building.

Nearly 40 years ago, your father dreamed that his four children would live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Will America realize that dream in your lifetime?

America will absolutely fulfill my father's dream. But we have a long, long way to go. This country has accomplished nearly everything it has put its mind to. Yet we still live with poverty, racism, and violence. To demolish barriers to the dream, we must focus as a nation and work tirelessly toward a solution. I believe that the solution lies in education.

There are some hopeful signs in America today. For example, African-Americans hold prominent leadership positions at major corporations and institutions like American Express, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Fannie Mae. The number of black leaders is nowhere near great, but it's a start. The truth remains that people are too often judged by their skin, not their character. It's sad but very true.

I am most discouraged by the growing prison population in America. My father used to say that violence is the language of the unheard. This country's high homicide rate suggests that a huge number of people still do not feel included in society. If we can create the opportunity for more citizens to participate in this remarkable economy, I believe that we can reduce the number of frustrated people who embrace crime.

We must find a way to include people, rather than exclude them, from the vast opportunities available today. We have the ability to do almost anything as a nation, but we have to look into the depths of our souls and identify the will. When ability meets will, success is created.

Some people suggest that the recent explosion of wealth has created an even greater divide among genders, cultures, and races in America. Have the past five years brought greater opportunity or greater frustration to the civil-rights movement?

In some ways, the new economy concentrated our attention on the wrong things. We became preoccupied with the accumulation of wealth through stock options, signing bonuses, and investments. It's good to aspire to greatness, but greatness does not necessarily mean a big house and an expensive car. As a nation, we need to promote more redeeming metrics than paychecks and property. We need to stop asking how we, as individuals, can strike it rich and to begin asking how we, as a community, can help every person make a decent living.

America has been living in denial for the past 20 years. We are a dysfunctionally functional nation. Most of us live and work in insane environments. We work nonstop to provide for our children financially while neglecting them emotionally and spiritually. We function despite the insanity. Our nation needs help.

Whenever a crisis erupts in a school or workplace, we send in counselors to help the victims. That is a positive thing. But we are sick all the time, and we don't know it. For example, a majority of Americans don't think that this country suffers from serious discrimination problems. Yet African-Americans still face racial profiling and discrimination when they enter a shopping mall, apply for a home loan, or drive home from work. Gays and lesbians still face outright homophobia and hostility daily. Women still receive lower wages and less venture-capital funding than their male counterparts.

Forty million Americans go to bed hungry every night. We don't often hear about those people on network television because America likes to pretend that they don't exist. As a result, a huge population feels unimportant and unwanted. We must work to become a more inclusive nation.

How can digital technology and business innovation work to reverse these discouraging trends?