Inquirer Editorial: A King Day like no other; Obama's last as president

With the eight-year tenure of this country's first African American president, Barack Obama, coming to an end within the same week, today's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day has extra sigificance.

When Obama took the oath of office in 2009, there was widespread belief that a "post-racial" America had finally arrived; that the door was finally open wide enough to make real King's dream of an equitable society where opportunity doesn't depend on your skin color.

Today the dream seems more elusive than it was eight years ago; with polls showing both blacks and whites think race relations have worsened. Much of the blame can be placed on the partisan warfare in Washington that plays into the hands of factions that exploit prejudice for political and personal advantage.

Exploitation is easy when the fields for its cultivation are fertile. It takes work to reap a different crop; the crop King had in mind when he spoke of a nation where, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

The spirit of King's belief that serving others can help erase bias is evident each year on the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service. Global Citizen, which organizes Philadelphia's King Day events, expects 145,000 volunteers to participate in 1,800 community service projects throughout the region today.

More important, of course, is what happens tomorrow. If people who have painted walls, distributed food to the needy, and sat down together to talk about prejudice then go their separate ways until the next King Day, what will have been gained? Having a black president didn't improve race relations in America. That power lies within each individual.