Make equal time for equal rights

Today, days after their pleas for mercy, the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his undeniable role in the progress of the nation. The day supersedes King, though. The holiday is also a memorial of the entire civil rights movement. Yet, ask a random sampling of people how King and the movement affected them. For every person who mentions integrated education or an opportunity that would not have been afforded 40 years ago, there is at least one that echoes the sentiment of a 30-something sportswriter I queried: It hasn't really affected me. After all, I'm a white male primarily raised in the era after the tumultuous 60s and 70s. My life is no different.

The weight of that opinion didn't really strike me until Beardslee's clemency hearing on Friday, although admittedly, the two controversial issues have little in common.

Beardslee wasn't at the hearing and few trying to save him had even met the man. But they felt so strongly about the overall issue of capital punishment they made their voices heard. It would have been so easy to take the path of least resistance — read about it in the paper, tsk tsk over a difference of opinion and say it doesn't affect them — but they didn't. Instead, they drove, they spoke, they petitioned and they vowed to keep on fighting. Even those who believe Beardslee and people like him deserve a date with death must respect the depths of the opponents' passion and dedication.

It's a passion and dedication I would expect to see reserved for something more noble like King's vision of an equal future. It is something I would hope to see with the still unresolved facets of civil rights, from race to gay marriage to women still earning fractions of each dollar paid to men. Doesn't social justice and equality affect each individual person more keenly than the death penalty? Shouldn't everyone care even if they do not fall into a so-called affected category?

Yet, it is still minority groups that turn out for civil rights marches and speeches. It is gay and lesbian groups that rally hardest for equal rights including a marriage certificate. It is women who sign up for domestic violence awareness walks and lobby for maternity leave.

It is the lower economic classes that petition for a living wage and health benefits. It makes sense. These are the people most impacted by not having their dreams of equality realized. But, just as King's dream would have remained only a fantasy if not for the masses of people without a personal claim to the fight, the same mindfulness must now fuel these other battles.

King was a great speaker, advocate and role model. But the civil rights movement was built on the back of countless others whose faces and actions don't fill history books and whose names don't easily roll off the tongue. Change is sparked by amazing people but they do little good without the force of the masses behind them. Those masses include large factions who don't fit into whatever special interest demographic is making its push at that time.

King had great foresight in crafting his dream; now it is up to the rest of us to wake up and make it happen. If no one ever did, that sportswriter would be filing stories on segregated sports teams. And if nobody ever does again, who knows what future achievements might be missed.

If people can be so moved to help a convicted killer they don't know, the rest of us should be compelled to offer a chance to those with no other crime than not fitting into the white male heterosexual model.

Michelle Durand's column "Off the Beat" runs every Monday and Thursday. She can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.