Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Dr. King, a Baptist minister, was a leading figure in the 1960s-era Civil Rights movement, most-noted for his “I Have a Dream” speech, given during a peaceful march on Washington, D.C., in 1963.

King said he dreamed of a day “when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

This wonderful message is one that can be extended to another forgotten segment of our society today: the American Indian. In his “Reflections” piece this week, Steve Peisch reflects on the traditions of the Plains Indians as a model to follow in considering how we use Earth’s resources, and he talks about trends in contemporary life that model the Plains Indian ideals. To us, the Indian heritage stands as a symbol for sustainable living.

Yet, sadly, this is the only context in which we usually think of Native Americans. The reality of their life today is much different. There are more than 2 million Indians in this country, nearly half of whom live on reservations, which number 336. According to a report in the Washington Post, the Indian population has higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and disease than any other ethnic group in America. Native Americans languish in poverty, victimized by racism and government corruption, forgotten by most of the rest of us.

In Dr. King’s legacy there is precedent for confronting harsh realities and dreaming about how things can be better for people. It is time we turned our attention to making those dreams come true for this country’s first Americans.