Black History Month has an added poignancy this year, as it is almost 40 years to the day, since Martin Luther King delivered his andldquo;I Have Been to the Mountaintopandrdquo; speech. In the four decades since that momentous occasion, there have been great strides in civil rights and racial relations andndash; the fact that there is a Black History Month at all would have been unthinkable in 1968.
Some of the progress includes Senator Barack Obama winning a presidential caucus in a predominately andlsquo;Whiteandrsquo; state like Iowa. Conversely, there have been recent reminders of Americaandrsquo;s deep racial divide with cases like the Jena 6 in Louisiana. So how far has America really come since MLK declared on April 3, 1968; andldquo;I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Landandrdquo;?
andldquo;I was 19 when Dr. King made that speech,andrdquo; recalls Willie Alexander, former NFL Cornerback and author of andlsquo;Entering the Promise Land.andrsquo; andldquo;Three years later I was in the NFL and I thought Iandrsquo;d escaped discrimination. Turns out I was wrong.andrdquo;
Raised in segregation-era Montgomery, Alabama, Willie had first-hand experience of the problems caused by racial strife. Being a Houston Oilers Defensive Back brought about stardom, but re-entering the andlsquo;real worldandrsquo; as a black business owner made Alexander realize a lot of work needed to be done before African-Americans could realize the dream of Dr. Kingandrsquo;s andlsquo;Promised Land.andrsquo;
Since his retirement from the NFL in 1980 he has concentrated on building his own business in Houston. Through his own experiences, Alexander found most African-American businesses struggle to do commerce in a predominantly white-business marketplace, and thus struggle to turn a profit.
andldquo;At first I was just a young man dealing with experienced executives, so I didnandrsquo;t expect it to be easy,andrdquo; says Alexander. andldquo;But what I do find troubling is that even though Iandrsquo;m now an experienced businessman and company chairman in my late 50andrsquo;s, when I deal with less experienced managers I am still having to swim against the tide because Iandrsquo;m a black businessman.andrdquo;
Alexander is using his book andlsquo;Entering the Promised Landandrsquo; and Black History Month to encourage Black Americans to embrace Rev. Martin Luther Kingandrsquo;s economic blue print, which called for spending money with institutions that supported the Black Community, thereby creating a stronger Black economic base.
The night before his assassination, Dr. Kingandrsquo;s final words spoke about his hope for Americaandrsquo;s future, andldquo;He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.andrdquo;
Over the span of his unique life, Willie Alexander has personally seen how far up andlsquo;the mountainandrsquo; Black Americans have been. But he hopes that the 40th anniversary of that speech and the embracing of Dr. Kingandrsquo;s message will finally mark the conquering of the summit thereby helping all Americans with dreams of andlsquo;Entering the Promised Land.andrsquo;

Willie Alexanderandrsquo;s website can be found at

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