Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and unless you work for a governmental agency, the odds are that you have to work. Hell, my employer gives me the fucking Oaks Day off, but not the day set aside to honor the most important figure in American history that represents non-violence and equality.
Since I really didn't feel like spending the day helping a bunch of rich white men make another group of rich men more rich, I took the day off without pay. So here I sit in my living room with my beautiful bride and darling daughter trying to figure out how best to honor this wonderful man. Lexington has the annual Unity Breakfast and Downtown March, but both of these tend to strike me as not much more than a self-congratulatory celebration for the old guard civil rights activists. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, they deserve their moment in the sun, but it isn't why I took off of work.
So I turn on the TV trying to find something that honors the day. Flipping through the channels reveals that the closest program in the spirit of the day is the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Yes, the Banks try to teach Will a lesson or Will tries to teach the Banks a lesson, but again, not really what I am looking for.
No, this man that was extremely unpopular when he was alive (people forget this), spoke as passionately and often about poverty and militarism as he did about civil rights (remember he was assassinated standing up for striking workers) deserves more. It seems that our nation has turned him into nothing more than a plastic action figure with a microchip in it that says "I have a dream!"
I wish the quote from Dr. King that best represented the day was "The time is always right to do the right thing;" but in actuality it probably is "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
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5 comments:
Well said, and unfortunate. This morning, as I was trying to put together the morning show, I was looking for some story from our numerous news feeds that would be .... SOMETHING on this amazing man. A profile piece, a story with someone who marched with him, a story with one of his children, a timeline of his achievements, etc. The closest I had was:
1)the presidential candidates evoke his memory when speaking at black churches, and
2)White man whose name happens to be Martin Luther King (born before MLK JR was a well-known figure) comments on what its like to have a famous name.
That was it.
We spent part of Sunday on the internet with the kids, looking up speeches, pictures, etc. with Owen (Lauryn didn't quite get it all, at age 4). Owen was shocked to see firefighters using high-powered water to break up non-violent protests. He was upset to see MLK had been arrested so many times. He was moved by his speeches. And baffled about why the civil rights movement had to take place in the first place -- the thought that the color of ones skin determines your worth was just nauseating to him. I've always wondered whether it is really a service or disservice to cancel school on this day -- a day when learning opportunities truly abound. For now, we'll have to do our best educating on this day from home, knowing far too many kids spend the day not even mentioning this great man's name.
Did you know that Virginia celebrates the day as Robert E. Lee day? Thought that was different.
By the way, day off paid :)
You want a funny/interesting take on Martin Luther King Jr. watch the episode of The Boondocks about if MLK were still alive today.....lets just say in the end he moves to Canada and Oprah is President!
Very well spoken.
13 years later and I am looking at a Black Lives Matter sign in my window. hmmmm...
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