King argues from a humanist perspective, saying that the US is “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny” (210) with the rest of the world. In other words, to realize the American Dream, we must view adopt a more generous and harmonious view of the world. He wonders if maybe we spend too much money building military bases instead of showing concern for other countries. I agree with his idea, but it seems overly idealistic given the US’s status, at the time, in a cold war with Russia. War was always imminent, and we need to ready ourselves for that. When I think about if this MLK’s would function today, I find it difficult to believe that it would. There are so many people with deep rooted ideologies that are fundamentally opposed to the basis of American culture.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “A Testament of Hope”, he begins by talking about the American Dream. The idea of the American Dream has manifested the mind of many over the centuries. It has provided a sense of optimism when there was little hope to be found. King states, “America is essentially a dream, a dream as yet unfulfilled”. This really stuck me because people question if the American Dream actually still exists, but King recognizes that it does in fact exist but it has yet to be discovered. Through his essay, he describes the things that are preventing the dream from becoming a reality: a lack of sympathy for our neighbors, the building of military bases, and the belief of racial superiority/inferiority. He urges people to recognize the fallacy of these things and pushes for making the American Dream a reality.

While discussing the role that Western science plays in preventing the “Black scholar from attaining personal liberation”, Cross sheds light on the fact that “Western science rhetoric suggests nonviolent, rational-intellectual solutions and emphatically rejects violent resolutions as irrational and even ‘immoral'”(23). How does this characterization play into Cross’ understanding of the five stages of transition? How might Martin Luther King, Jr. react to Cross’ claim?