One could imagine that it was in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that President Clinton recently took the opportunity to speak forthrightly on issues that significantly impact the poor and the oppressed in this country. Or one could surmise it was a convenient opportunity to do what he didn�t do in the eight years he has been head of state.

In a package of recommendations sent to Congress which also were discussed in an op-ed piece he penned in the New York Times, President Clinton made recommendations that he said would improve race relations in the country. He called for such noble and sensible actions such as, passing a law that makes the epidemic of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies a crime; giving convicted death row inmates greater access to DNA testing and competent counsel for defendants in death penalty cases; reducing the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing, a position Blacks have been demanding for years; a review of mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent offenders; and giving back the right to vote to felons who have served their time.

President Clinton also promoted another sensible idea bandied around for years, that of making Election Day a national holiday. And he recommended setting up a commission to appoint a nonpartisan commission on electoral reform. The commission, headed by people like former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, would gather facts and determine the "causes of voter disparities, including those involving race, class and ethnicity."

These lofty recommendations offered by the President come curiously as he is exiting office, when the sun is setting on his administration. So couching his message in the context of a King Day observance somewhat is contradictory to what King stood for. But the tactic was no different from others who find it convenient every year around this time to cloak themselves in the King Legacy garment, while during the other 364 days of the year they are sleeping with the enemies of the poor and oppressed.

Dr. King spoke during the daylight against the Vietnam war and was vilified for it. He walked the streets at high noon laying out the injustices that were being waged against the working poor. For that he was spat upon and had rocks and eggs thrown at him. His voice was a threat to the powers of that day not because he wanted to integrate a bathroom, but because his message could enliven the dormant power of a mass mobilization of men, women and children�families�that could threaten those powers that determine where wars would be fought, who would eat and who wouldn�t. The challenge for those who want to talk King today is to now walk the walk of Dr. King.

During his life, Dr. King did not endorse a party in any political race. He said he wanted to remain independent of such politics so that he could speak the truth to power. Today, Blacks have been lulled to sleep in the cot of the Democratic Party and are too afraid to go near the electrified blanket of the Republican Party. This has not benefited the Black masses in a significant way in that during every election we are taken for granted by one party, and ignored by the other.

To those who muttered the words on Jan. 15, "we have to keep the dream alive," your challenge is to throw some cold water on your face and realize that the dream is economic, racial, political and social justice. It is not being able to stand on a platform with a mayor or even the president and sing "We Shall Overcome."

The challenge is to make the dream a reality by creating communities of our own where we can live in peace and develop an economic base so that we won�t have to go begging others to provide services that we should provide for ourselves.