MLK Day, Part II

Let's say that a Vietnamese baby, one Quang Nguyen, was born in Hawaii to a Vietnamese and a French parent. He is bright and articulate and the apple of both his parents' eyes.

Along the way, Quang's mother and father divorce. She wants to go to the Louve, and he wants to live in Phnom Penh. (It doesn't really matter where for the purpose of this piece.) Even though this hurts young Quang, he still soldiers on. One day in school, he writes an essay about how he wants to one day become the President of the United States. The teacher likes it so much she staples it to the bulletin board.

Quang eats well and exercises, so he grows into a tall, strapping man with a bobbing Adams apple and a gift for oration that is beyond measure. He runs for the County Assessor's seat and wins. Then he runs for the Senate and wins that one, too.

Remembering his boyhood essay and lifelong dream, he takes his smile and his gift for oration and runs for President and nails that one as well. The day that all communities are happy for all the Quang Nguyen's, the Jose Rodriguez's, the Aaron Goldberg's and the Barack Obama's of the world is the day that Dr. King's dream will bear light.