COLUMBUS, Ohio — “Old men talk too much.” That was the first thing he wanted people to know.
“So, I grew up in an environment of activism,” Tom Dillard said.
Dillard was a young boy during segregation. He was raised in a family of community activists who were involved in different groups, organizations and programs that fought for a better tomorrow.
Then, on August 28, 1963, a speech furthered that fight.
“It happened then, but its future is now,” he said. “That’s why you use the word ‘dream’.”
Fifty-seven years later protests, marches, riots and social and racial injustices.
Dillard believes the answer lies in us: a brother’s keeper mentality that society has gotten away from.
It’s a mindset, a thought and a dream of the way things once were.
“Where’s those neighborhood moms and neighborhood dads that when your car broke down that old man would come out and help you fix it,” Dillard said.
The message, the legacy and the lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he says, even though it might not seem like it at times are still here.
“You’re the fruit that we were fighting for,” he said.
Dillard says the fight was for Shannon Hardin on Columbus City Council and Rep. Joyce Beatty in congress. The fight was for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and for a swing in Georgia’s state legislature.
It’s not about blue or red. It’s not about black or white.
“I don’t think it’s just a black and white thing,” he said. “I think people still have that dream that we can live [and] that America can be to her full potential.”
He says “old men talk too much.” But, he hopes after the injustices, the protests and the calls for action, someone will listen.