On MLK Day, Poll Shows Racial Divide in Assessing Equality

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his vision of America's future, uttering one of the most oft-quoted statements about racial equality in the nation's history: "I have a dream that my four little 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."

More than 50 years later, slightly more than half of Americans say they believe that dream has been realized - but fully seven in ten African-Americans believe that we aren't there yet, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.

In the new survey, 54 percent of Americans agree with the statement that people are judged "by the content of their character" regardless of race, while 45 percent disagree. That split is unchanged from July 2013.

But the slim majority of those who agree includes just 29 percent of African-Americans and 45 percent of Hispanics. Seventy percent of African-Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics say that race is still a defining factor in how people are judged.

The poll comes after the police shootings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York sparked nationwide protests and a movement to address racial disparities in law enforcement actions.

Older Americans tend to be optimistic about the breakdown of racial barriers, with 64 percent of seniors and 58 percent of those aged 50-64 saying they believe King's vision is lived out in everyday life now. But young people - aged 18-34 - are markedly more pessimistic, with 54 percent saying they disagree.

The nation overall has seen a dip in agreement with the "content of their character" hypothesis since early 2009, when President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the nation's first black president.

At that time, six in ten Americans said the country defines people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, while 39 percent disagreed. In the January 2009 survey, 41 percent of African-Americans agreed with the statement, versus 56 percent who disagreed.

Jeremiah 23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

Deuteronomy 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

Deuteronomy 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.