It is 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, but what do activists like C.L. Bryant think about what's happened since then?

"What has changed is that the dream itself has been hijacked by those who have more of a scheme, than a dream," Bryant told 710 KEEL.

He says King's message was to empower the black population to work their way to equality economically and in other means rather than being essentially bought out by the government.

"The Great Society of Lyndon Johnson almost single handedly, the tenets of it, destroyed the black family," Bryant explained.  He says programs like these made it okay for black children to not be raised by both parents, a large reason for why the black population is still behind.

But Bryant doesn't limit his argument to just affecting America's black population.

"In Detroit, before 1965, Detroit was the most prosperous city on the face of the earth," explained Bryant.  "Now look at it.  They got every social program they wanted, but it drove the city right into the ground."

And Bryant points out other cities seeing problems like this.  Los Angeles.  Chicago.  Bryant says Dr. King's message goes against what has happened to these cities.  Bryant argues that Dr. King wanted the black population to be able to do for themselves what they could not do because of societal laws and rules in the past.

What about the future?

Bryant says he is concerned with the path the nation is on.

"I believe that this president had a great opportunity to build a bridge that no other president who has ever lived in history had a chance to build and that was a bridge between the races," said Bryant.  "My goodness, he is a bi-racial himself."

Bryant feels the continuation of social programs like the ones introduced in the Great Society will continue to drive the black population downward rather than help promote the group's quality of life.

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