Martin Luther King's dream illustrated by long-standing friendship
(CBS News) LONG BEACH, Calif. - The 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's speech is an opportunity to assess the state of his dream. In a new CBS News poll, 73 percent of Americans said there has been a lot of progress in ending discrimination. But the poll also found a sharp difference in perception.
While 40 percent of blacks said there is still a lot of discrimination today against African-Americans, only 15 percent of whites see it that way.
Two doctors in California shared a story that helps illustrate the racial divide.
Dr. Clifford Hancock and Dr. Dennis Noesen are OBGYNs at Long Beach Memorial in California. They met as medical residents 35 years ago and have been best friends ever since.
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"There just was a good camaraderie," Noesen said.
Noesen is white and Hancock is black, but Noesen says that they are "much more alike than we are different."
"I see Dennis as a friend," Hancock said.
Hancock grew up in predominantly black and poor East St. Louis, Ill., Noesen in a sunny Southern California suburb.
"I think there was one black student," Noesen said, "so it was not a very diverse circumstance."
Today, they say they're living the American Dream. It's Dr. King's dream that's unfulfilled.
"When I first went into practice, sometimes patients would come, and they'd see me, and they'd say, 'where's the doctor?' and I'd say, 'I'm the doctor,'" Hancock said. "They'd say, 'You know, I think I left something out in the car.' And then they'd just leave."
That past touches the present.
"I have two sons, and I always tell them just be careful what you do," Hancock said. "They have a target on their back. I've been stopped before by the police in a suit and a nice car."
But Noesen's son Tyler proved the true strength of this friendship.
"His son passed recently of pancreatic cancer at a very young age," Hancock said.
"Nothing could be worse. It wasn't something I could share with everyone," Noesen said, before referring to Hancock, "and he was just the most supportive person you could imagine."
"He's a damn good friend," Noesen added.
This, they say, is what Dr. King's dream looks like.
