In his "I Have a Dream" speech Dr. Martin Luther King said: "I have a dream 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." This idea should be reaffirmed on Martin Luther King Day.
     "What has happened in the years since Dr. King's murder is the opposite of his hope in the 'I Have a Dream' speech," says Edwin A. Locke, spokesman for the Ayn Rand Institute. "Color blindness now has been replaced with color preference in the form of affirmative action. No amount of rationalizing can disguise the fact that affirmative action involves racial quotas, that is, racism."
     Locke argues that the cure for racism is not racial quotas but a focus on the individual and his character.
     "The rational alternative to racial diversity, focusing on the collective, is to focus on the individual and to treat each individual according to his own merits," says Locke. "On Martin Luther King Day -- and every day -- we should focus on the proper antidote to racism and proper alternative to racial thinking: individualism. We need to teach our children and all our citizens to look beyond the superficialities of skin color and to judge people on what really matters, namely, 'the content of their character.'"