Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) commemorated the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech Wednesday by delivering his own list enumerating problems he sees facing the African-American community on his talk radio program.
The list, titled “My Own Dream for America,” was posted on his radio program’s website:
I have a dream that all black parents will have the right to choose where their kids attend school.
I have a dream that all black boys and girls will grow up with a father.
I have a dream that young black men will stop shooting other young black men.
I have a dream that all young black men will say “no” to gangs and to drugs.
I have a dream that all black young people will graduate from high school.
I have a dream that young black men won’t become fathers until after they’re married and they have a job.
I have a dream that young unmarried black women will say “no” to young black men who want to have sex.
I have a dream that today’s black leadership will quit blaming racism and “the system” for what ails black America.
I have a dream that black America will take responsibility for improving their own lives.
I have a dream that one day black America will cease their dependency on the government plantation, which has enslaved them to lives of poverty, and instead depend on themselves, their families, their churches, and their communities.
As Mother Jones notes, Walsh, a former Tea Party representative who lost to Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) in 2012, was sued by his ex-wife in 2011 for failing to pay over $100,000 in child support payments.
