Almost 40 years have passed since Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in the still heat of late August and announced to the world that he had a dream.

“I have a dream,” he said, “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

“I have a dream,” he said, “that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Almost 40 years have passed, but those words may impact Americans now more than ever. Racial tensions intensified across the country after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, leaving the status of King’s dream up in the air.

And many people believe discrimination and racial profiling are bigger problems now.

“We’re taking many steps backward,” said Murray Edwards, senior coordinator for the Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs.

Amid the rubble

When the buildings fell in New York and Washington, D.C., in September, they brought down the country’s dread of discrimination with them.

Suddenly it didn’t seem that politically incorrect to hate entire races or religions as President Bush launched his war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

“The administration is putting up a smoke screen and not dealing with real issues,” Edwards said. “It’s reactionary decision-making, and it’s not having a positive effect on our country.”

But terrorist attacks initially offered an opportunity to bring people together, he said.

“In the first couple months after the attacks, race relations were enhanced because everyone focused on one particular tragedy, one particular enemy, and it gave everyone in the country a chance to come together,” Edwards said.

Recent examples of racial profiling are evidence that big problems still remain, he said.

“If you identify someone visually, if you detain them strictly for that reason, that’s racial profiling,” he said, pointing out that there are examples of racial profiling not just with Sept. 11, but with many areas of law enforcement.

“It’s always been there, we’re just more aware of it now.”

While Edwards said MSU faces no serious racial or ethnic conflicts, there is still the basic issue of race relations on campus.

“Once we get past the 9-11 events and get back to business as usual, there will be some issues that are going to surface again,” he said.

But East Lansing isn’t completely exempt from these forms of discrimination.

“There was the whole incident last semester with an e-mail that was sent out, and a lot of students had a problem with it and felt it was racial profiling,” said John Johnson, vice president of MSU’s Black Student Alliance.

The e-mail, sent by MSU police, warned MSU students to beware of several men in native Pakistan garb who were seen on campus.

“Just because they were of that background and they just happened to be on campus shortly after the situation, they were being profiled,” Johnson said. “They might not have had any association with Osama bin Laden or the terrorist attacks.”

A personal account

Naima Rehman, a human biology junior and member of MSU’s Muslim Students’ Association, said she has experienced no outward discrimination following the terrorist attacks.

“For the most part, people are more open and more ready to be understanding,” she said. “Nothing’s really different.”

That’s not to say she hasn’t experienced racial profiling.

“People do subconsciously associate certain people with a certain group,” she said, “especially if it’s being fed from the media.”

Rehman, who wears a hijab (a headscarf often worn by Muslim women), said the biggest problem isn’t discrimination, but ignorance. Born and raised in the United States, Rehman said people’s assumptions can be a little disconcerting.

“Just because someone looks different doesn’t mean they’re from or not from a certain place,” she said.

For the most part, however, she said people have been accepting.

“People are pretty open,” Rehman said. “It’s just a matter of understanding.”

And there can be a positive result from any renewed racial tensions - it could be the catalyst in finally achieving the dream, Johnson said.

“In a way, I believe it brought us closer together,” he said. “And in the same sense, it raised issues about how people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are treated in America.

“It really opened our eyes to a lot of issues that I don’t think we fully addressed, as far as the relationship between Arab Americans and black Americans, as well as the Islamic community and the black community.”

Ingredients for change

Until these problems end, Edwards said his office will continue to do what it has done since the terrorist attacks - offer support to students who have had difficulty dealing with the events, particularly Arab Americans.

But the key to achieving King’s dream now is adapting it to the present situation, he said.

“People need to have open minds about what equality really means,” he said. “If King were here today, the argument would be more toward equity than equality. The question is whether you have the opportunity to reach for more.”

Johnson said the path to equality post Sept. 11 starts not just with an open mind, but true attempts to overcome ignorance.

“We should try to understand each other and not fall into stereotyping,” he said. “We need to take steps toward equality by getting to know someone of another background.”

As a black man, Johnson said he personally understands racial profiling. He said freedom from it must start at the bottom.

“In order for racial and civil rights to be fully realized in America or on campus, the dream -the movement - must start at the grass-roots level and continue to be fulfilled,” he said.

Sherry Dickerson, a history graduate student, said it’s important not to just have an open mind, but to learn about the issues.

“Our society is a racist society and we still have to contend with the effects of racism,” Dickerson said. “If we can acknowledge that and make a point of learning about the issues, we can move away from that and toward unity, toward realizing that diversity is enriching rather than something that needs to be divisive.”

And the events following the terrorist attacks didn’t make racial problems worse, but brought them to the surface, Dickerson said.

“It was an event that triggered latent racism that became manifest and directed toward Arabs,” she said. “The event itself brought out something that was already there, and the way we’re handling it is making it worse.”

Quick fix or long haul?

As a mother of two children, ages 11 and 14, Dickerson said she doesn’t see equality being achieved in her children’s lifetimes.

“It is a long, slow process in America,” she said. “The 9-11 event was horrible, but it is providing an opportunity for me to teach my children, to help them see racism in society, and show them how it is manifest within this particular situation.”

Dickerson said she sometimes fears for her children’s future in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

“I have felt concern about the impact it may have on my children in terms of their own personal sense of safety and security,” she said.

“In terms of the issue of race relations, I tried to use it as an opportunity to help them understand a little more about issues of race, power relations, and the projection of hatred onto others.”

King’s dream, she said, may be a long way from being realized, but it is by no means unattainable.

“We need to believe,” she said, “in unity, and in ourselves.”

Johnson agrees, and although he said he doesn’t know when the problem will finally fade away, he won’t stop waiting for that day.

“I can only hope, only pray and dream, that it does and do my part to ensure that it does,” he said.