With Martin Luther King Day upon us, I am able to reflect, maybe for the first time as an adult. what this day & the man really mean.
As a child, MLK day brought yearly activities & crayola colored renditions lining elementary hallways across America. I thought of him as sort of a saint. I knew that he was a great civil rights worker and man of peace, but I didn't really know what that meant.
As a young adult, the day meant no work & remembering to go to the post office the prior Friday or Saturday.
This year, I reflect. What was it like to be him and many like him fighting for equal rights - defending a skin color. I will never know. But as I try to imagine stepping out into the dark with no protection to bring light to a entire group of people, I'm filled with fear, anger & hope.
He wasn't just fighting so that blacks could eat where they pleased, or keep their seat on the bus, he was fighting to be recognized by humanity. To have rights, to be heard.
Can you imagine? Imagine being afraid to go out after dark, being called boy, or doing a full days work only to be sent home near closing time, unpaid- there's no one you can complain to nothing you can do. That is where Dr.King came in. He said we can no longer continue doing this, he had a dream.
Can you imagine that something born unto you to cast you out of society, deemed you less than human? Maybe being blond, or having blue eyes?
There was a lynching in my town. On the courthouse lawn that still stands. It was 1930, times were different then. My great grandmother normally took a street car past the courthouse on her way home from work. That day she walked a long way out of her way to avoid the gathering crowds. As I look at the picture I've seen many times I feel sick and appalled and seeing the smiling white faces I think to myself there is a special place in hell for those who stood by and watched for entertainment.
There's been healing on that courthouse lawn. Several years ago there was a KKK rally that came to town - to that courthouse lawn. My best friend and I went to oppose, as we walked up there was a black woman who reached out to us, saying she was nervous. We grabbed her hands and walked in. There were no supporters thank goodness, only opposers. That was healing. That was also where we all gathered after Obama came to town. People of all colors gathered on the courthouse lawn to wave to his bus as it headed out of town. That was healing too.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of those bright lights that poked a hole in the dark sky of history.
So I will leave you with a quote from the man, one to remember no matter what divides us -
As a child, MLK day brought yearly activities & crayola colored renditions lining elementary hallways across America. I thought of him as sort of a saint. I knew that he was a great civil rights worker and man of peace, but I didn't really know what that meant.
As a young adult, the day meant no work & remembering to go to the post office the prior Friday or Saturday.
This year, I reflect. What was it like to be him and many like him fighting for equal rights - defending a skin color. I will never know. But as I try to imagine stepping out into the dark with no protection to bring light to a entire group of people, I'm filled with fear, anger & hope.
He wasn't just fighting so that blacks could eat where they pleased, or keep their seat on the bus, he was fighting to be recognized by humanity. To have rights, to be heard.
Can you imagine? Imagine being afraid to go out after dark, being called boy, or doing a full days work only to be sent home near closing time, unpaid- there's no one you can complain to nothing you can do. That is where Dr.King came in. He said we can no longer continue doing this, he had a dream.
Can you imagine that something born unto you to cast you out of society, deemed you less than human? Maybe being blond, or having blue eyes?
There was a lynching in my town. On the courthouse lawn that still stands. It was 1930, times were different then. My great grandmother normally took a street car past the courthouse on her way home from work. That day she walked a long way out of her way to avoid the gathering crowds. As I look at the picture I've seen many times I feel sick and appalled and seeing the smiling white faces I think to myself there is a special place in hell for those who stood by and watched for entertainment.
There's been healing on that courthouse lawn. Several years ago there was a KKK rally that came to town - to that courthouse lawn. My best friend and I went to oppose, as we walked up there was a black woman who reached out to us, saying she was nervous. We grabbed her hands and walked in. There were no supporters thank goodness, only opposers. That was healing. That was also where we all gathered after Obama came to town. People of all colors gathered on the courthouse lawn to wave to his bus as it headed out of town. That was healing too.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of those bright lights that poked a hole in the dark sky of history.
So I will leave you with a quote from the man, one to remember no matter what divides us -
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Happy Martin Luther King Day - now get out there and do something nice for somebody :)))
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