The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated this week and metaphors have been stretched like taffy linking King's seminal marches with the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Quite a reach considering latter-day protests lack a definable foe, a clear message and proposed solutions.

The civil-rights movement led by King targeted many adversaries: among them, legalized segregation and discriminatory practices that prevented African Americans and whites from attending the same schools or drinking from the same water fountains. Add to that a profound lack of equal opportunity for jobs, housing or just piece of mind and you get why King's message resonated.

Anti-Wall Street protesters believe they have a nemesis: big banks. But banks are inanimate objects. Those who run the banks might serve as whipping boys if they weren't beneficiaries of a deregulated industry that made their reckless actions immoral but, alas, not illegal.

Messaging must sharpen toward clarity. (Although the sign that read "Neuter the Fat Cats" was pointed enough to cause this reader to wince.)

Protesters want jobs. But a fair question is whether those demanding jobs have the education and skills for the jobs that will come. Unemployment among young people is as high as it was after World War II. Perhaps that's why they outnumber other age groups at the Westlake Park protests.

Besides, "jobs" is too vague. Want a rallying cry us 99 percenters can get behind? Demand more public investment in job creators — the colleges, apprenticeships and career certification programs that will ensure people are qualified for the jobs that will come.

Another point on vagueness: Take care not to let anger against greed reflect the kind of hypocrisy that comes with mocking another person's salary while demanding just compensation according to our worth.

Another challenge for Occupy Wall Street will be staying power. With each passing day, the numbers standing next to tarps at Westlake Park or waving signs at passers-by on Fourth Avenue fall to police harassment and cooling weather.

The solution is twofold. First, shift the movement indoors to political action. In a word: vote. That may not sound as sexy as sleeping in a tent all night next to strangers-turned-comrades but it is more lasting.

Voting was instilled in many of us by the illustration of King and so many others enduring brutal beatings and arrests so we could make our voices heard in relative comfort.

The Occupy Wall Street prognosticators are right: This could be a seminal moment in American democracy. Here's how: Put down the sign. Pick up the ballot.

Ballots for this all-mail election were sent out today. Call your county elections office if you don't receive one.

The second part of the solution is diversity. At Westlake Park late last week, the only racial diversity I saw was me. Demonstrations across the country, particularly New York and Washington, D.C., are more diverse. Inclusion is made easy by pointing out the staggering unemployment rates of minority communities.

Diversity makes for a powerful voting bloc. African Americans 18 to 29 years old voted at a higher percentage than their white counterparts in the 2008 election. Some might be thinking, "of course they did, they were electing Barack Obama as president."

But that upward trend continued into the 2010 elections, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

The Tufts University-based research group found that while 24. 9 percent of young whites voted, 27.5 percent of young African Americans did. The gap contributed to the largest recorded decline in white youth voter turnout — going from 28 percent in 2006 to 24.9 percent in 2010.

Anger needs a home but don't let this outburst fizzle. Let it morph into a slow burn of political consciousness.

In a long-ago speech, King thundered that we march to these words: "Let it be known all over the world that we will not take it any longer." And after we march, we vote.

Lynne K. Varner's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her email address is lvarner@seattletimes.com