I'm not going to tell you that racism is dead, cause that's not accurate. It still exists in various forms all over the world, however.. It has greatly diminished in the United States at least to the point where we just had a black or half black president. So I think it's safe or fair to say that racism has diminished quite a bit, at least in the US. (This is my opinion feel free to argue it)
HOWEVER.. Speciesism is alive and well, perhaps even thriving. And it's difficult to tell sometimes whether it is lessening or perhaps even expanding.. Some animal agriculture is struggling in some places and booming in others.
But.. Not too long ago, it wasn't that uncommon for people to be tortured and murdered and enslaved and basically treated as property that has no rights because of their gender or skin color.
And.. Now.. Still.. We have over 50 billion animals a year that are snuffed out of existence because they also look a little bit different, and maybe they can't communicate in our language, yet.. Nonetheless, they are still earthlings like us, and they are our brothers and sisters on this planet if you're open minded enough to see that as opposed to them being your resources to do whatever you want with.
I guess that saying by MLK jr is generally ignored when it comes to animals and other creatures in regards to.. Judging one based on the content of their character as opposed to what color they are. Hell, even ML jr partook in the genocide against animals. Someone who I highly respect for his courage to speak out for his specific group of people.
Yet you can find others like Ghandi, who did respect the animals much more. So I wonder.. Will animals continue to be treated like resources and property just cause they look a lil bit different? Or will they someday be protected by us instead of preyed upon by us?
Seems pretty clear there isn't going to be any animal MLK jr marching for rights, it's just beyond their realm, and thus only we can speak out for them.. Yet, instead of speaking out for our suffering brothers and sisters, most just eat them instead..