Where is Dr. Kings Dream Today?
As we celebrate the birth of the great civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is only appropriate to see where his dream of social justice and equal opportunity is today. The new film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, “The Boys of Baraka,” shares a glimpse of Dr. King’s ideal in today’s public school system. According to these filmmakers, equal opportunity and potential for social mobility are far from reality for lower-income, inner-city children, who are predominantly African American and Hispanic. Public schools in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Oakland and thousands of urban areas across the country look almost exactly like schools in Mississippi 50 years ago — poorly funded, segregated and offering low-quality education. “The Boys of Baraka” documents the lives of four 12-year-old boys from the rough streets of Baltimore, who escape their fate and find better education in Kenya. Richard, his younger brother Romesh, Devon and Montrey went to a school where 75 percent of Af
