civic dreaming

We talked about it, how our country used to be different, how Dr. King came along and said what a lot of people were feeling, how he stood up, how he had a dream and wanted more than anything for everyone to be treated equally no matter what color their skin. I show her his I Have A Dream speech and she actually watches most of it. She marvels at all the people who were there and we talk some more, one of those magical moments where she is really and truly listening. She asks if he's still alive and if we can go see him and I tell her what happened and she wants to see pictures of that too.

She can't understand why someone would want to hurt such a nice man, a man who just wanted everyone to be treated the same, the way we all do. I told her that he scared some people, some people were very afraid of what he had to say and didn't want things to change. That some white people thought white was the only good color and they were better than everyone else. She looks at me and starts laughing. Are you kidding? ARE YOU KIDDING? If I thought that way I wouldn't know X and X and X and X friends and I LOVE them!

And I smile at her and tell her I am not kidding but her saying that is exactly why Dr. King is so important. Because he helped change America. That because of him and others like him things changed and it was good. But she can't let it go. White people were AFRAID of black people? Yes, I say. Are they afraid of them now, she asks and I tell her yes, some people still are afraid of people who look different from them and she pauses for a minute and says are people afraid of Barack Obama? and I nod and say yes, I think some people are and she throws her head back and laughs out loud. Well that's just about the silliest thing I've ever heard she says.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King.

today

I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.  Dr. Martin Luther King
The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment.

Who doubts that this toughness is one of man's greatest needs? Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. - Dr. Martin Luther King

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? I'm not talking about blind optimism here... No, I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope! - President Elect Barack Hussein Obama

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there's the United States of America. - President Elect Barack Hussein Obama

Here's to that man.  Here's to all of us.  Yes we can.  Yes we did. 

Yes we will.

don't you know i'm talking about a revolution

We celebrate you, Dr. King. Your wisdom, your passion, your burning desire to open our eyes to injustices everywhere. Your actions and words moving a nation forward, a revolution cut short by the same violence you so fiercely defied.

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a Promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"

As we celebrate the life of Dr. King I can't help but wonder how he'd feel about our society today. A man whose words regarding our involvement in Vietnam could be spoken again for our war in Iraq.

I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution. President Kennedy said on one occasion, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray to God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I can't help but wonder if he'd feel sadness that 45 long years later we still have nooses in trees.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

And that 47 million of our children live in poverty.

It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish against poverty.

That we still prioritize greed and money over peace and love.

"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

That we often fail to stand up for what we know is right because it is inconvenient and we are more concerned with self than community, with consumption over philanthropy.

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that 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! (All excerpts attributed to Dr. King)

Happy Birthday, Dr. King. May your dream continue to guide us, to shame us, and to keep us moving forward. Thank you for the challenge of your legacy.

random thoughts and birthday wishes

While (poorly) evaluating someone's risk of suicide:

Him: You know...wanting to kill yourself is like robbing a bank. You know what I mean, when you are sitting in front of the bank, you have a gun, and you have it staked out? You know where you are going, which guards are weak, and what time of day? That's how I think about killing myself...and right now, I am only sitting outside the bank. I don't have a gun. In the past I had it all planned out. For me, it's just like when you want to rob a bank. Know what I'm saying?

Me: Well, yes, but without the whole bank part.

Him: Yeah, ok. But I mean, haven't you ever thought about robbing a bank?

Me: Well...not so much.

Him: Really?

Me: Dude, I couldn't pull that off.

Him: You're probably right.

And to the magnificient Dr. Martin Luther King: We haven't made as much progress as we should have. Please know we are still trying to get to a place of fairness and justice for all. We haven't given up on your dream.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Dr. King

We remember you.