MLK DAY
Martin Luther King Cries for Us
"I woke up this morning with my mind set on freedom..." Today is Martin Luther King Day, how could I have not? My first urge of the day was to get online and check my email. I'm not sure what drove me to do so before my eyes had even had the chance to adjust to what seemed to be a beautifully sunny day, but generally I like to read my emails before Google has sent them to the government.
A former colleague of mine must have awoken in a similar condition, because my "in-box" contained an email familiarly titled "Remembering Martin Luther King Jr." I groaned, wondering if this would be a recycled urge of remembrance many of us have no doubt endured each year from our parents, teachers, and network television stations. But, then I remembered who had sent me the email and opened it with a renewed sense of curiosity. I'm glad I did.
I'm glad I did, because every now and then I forget... I don't forget the changes in compassion and responsibility that MLK helped inspire in the Americans who listened to his words and the truths they represented, but rather, all that we chose not to listen to, all of the changes we chose not to enact, and all of the responsibilities we still do not fulfill to the detriment of all.
The email contained a link and the link contained a web page with both an audio file and a transcript of a speech that Dr. King delivered on April 4th, 1967, at Riverside Church, right here in New York City.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
The speech was not about the little Black and White children of the south holding hands in peace and harmony, but far more reaching and dangerous. The speech was about all of the children of the world, and their parents, and everyone else holding hands in peace and harmony. It was against the war in Vietnam. It was against poverty. It was against imperialism. It was for peace and the love that makes peace possible.
If only I could have awoken on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a stretch and a yawn, and a glass of orange juice which I would lift to the sky in a toast to a world with less sorrow. A world with less mindless violence (even if it meant no "Rambo" part... whatever), with less hunger (even if it meant I was forced to eat my dinner leftovers each day for lunch), and more care for all life (I know, I know the U.S. GNP might suffer). What a day that would be...
As I read this speech, the parallels between the 1960's that Dr. King spokes of and our own time were almost too obvious... shockingly obvious. Poor Americans are still being sent to other countries to kill other poor people. Billions of dollars are being borrowed and spent on war under the guise of democracy creation. Simultaneously, millions still live in poverty here in the U.S., without health care, jobs, some even homes, and our own democratic rights are being stifled. All that's missing are some assassinations (good luck Obama) and a presidential impeachment (The Republicans once again control the house…). How can this be? How can the similarities be so clear and yet the people who were alive at that time and are still living have allowed it to continue? How did they allow us to get back to this place? Or perhaps we never moved past it?
My parents, and others from their generation, always talk about the 1960's like it was a moment of breath in a drowning world. They had so much hope back then... back before most of them got complacent, or acceptant. The youth of that time honestly believed that the world was changing for the better and many of them fought hard for that world and me, their future who would inherit it.
It seemed like a magical time even for those who gave their lives for this future. Hell, I actually grew up in a post-civil rights era in which the nostalgia for the 60's and their icons like King, and X, and Kennedy x2, convinced me that being a "Martyr" was a worthy career ambition.
But then again, watching the parallels of today moves me to wonder what they actually accomplished, these fighters of freedom and their murdered iconic leaders? We celebrate MLK day each year as if equality arrived and became as interwoven into the fabric of America as the racism and oppression that preceded it.
The Black people know better (except for maybe Justice Thomas and Bill Cosby), so do the Latinos, and the poor, and the "Gays" (the happy people? I don't get it... ), and the women, and don't forget the people who began their lives and cultural history on this land thousands of years before the first Africans and Europeans disembarked from their ships. And I haven't even begun on how the U.S. treats the rest of the world.
For many people, their first response to this line of thought seems to usually be something like the following: "But things are so much different and better now compared to what it was like before, don't you see that?" If this is your first response I have the following questions: Are you white? Are you wealthy? Are you male? I could go on. The farther you exist from the power norm the less likely you are to look at U.S. progress as "the glass is half full."
There is that old saying, "The time for justice is always now" (or maybe I just heard that in Denzel's, last movie, but either way it sounds good). For a man like MLK, the American glass of justice, of equality, compassion, love, and freedom, is not just half empty, it's almost been drunk dry! Where are we? How long will we wait?
The power of America has always been its people, if this was not true how could MLK even have a national day dedicated to his work? But the people like our parents, even if they still fight, are far less hopeful than they used to be, and our fellow "citizens" are less educated as to what that title means now than they were fifty years ago, a clear sign that all of our progress has not be progressive enough!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s true greatness came from his ability to remind "the people" that they had the power to create whatever world they would; all that was needed to change the world is courage. Not money, but courage. The truth is that what are really needed are visionaries with enough charm to gain followers. Isn't it sad how the ones who actually seem to care about everyone are the ones who usually die young? What a coincidence no one wants to take up the reigns...
How we could use a man like MLK today. He understood so clearly the idea that underlies all of the largest religions of the world; the true test of character of any person or nation continues to be in not how we treat our own, but how we treat others, whether they be enemies or simply a different shade of color from ourselves.
On this day of remembrance, I search within myself for the courage that King would ask of me. Courage, the only thing that I can see changing the wrong of the world into right, easing the suffering of billions of brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers of mine. Of yours.
Today is a day to honor not just one man, but what he stood for. It is the same thing that Mrs. Tubman stood for and that Gandhi stood for. It is the same thing that Buddha stood for, the same thing that Jesus stood for and all of the great leaders of women and men since we began this thing we call "civilization." Peace, love, unity, and freedom are all obtainable now. It only depends on how much courage each of us has...
On how much courage each of us is willing to have to give up a possession or two, in standing up and saying "NO" to oppression even when we benefit from it. Courage to stop wasting food and water, and the courage to pay higher taxes and vote on substance and not looks. Courage to hold onto the responsibility to never stop fighting for the struggle, and of course, the courage to forget that which could divide us in favor of what binds us together, without the fear that we will lose that which makes us unique and special; Courage not to feel we are better than others.
On this day Martin Luther King cries for us, his family. Let us honor him and all those who came before us and attempted to pave the way towards progress. Let us have the courage to make it so that there is no "glass is half empty/ glass is half full" discussion. Let us fill this glass, not with the tears of sorrow of our honored, but tears of joy.
Happy MLK day... let's try stretching it out a bit longer this year.
Daisun Cohn-Williams
Human
A former colleague of mine must have awoken in a similar condition, because my "in-box" contained an email familiarly titled "Remembering Martin Luther King Jr." I groaned, wondering if this would be a recycled urge of remembrance many of us have no doubt endured each year from our parents, teachers, and network television stations. But, then I remembered who had sent me the email and opened it with a renewed sense of curiosity. I'm glad I did.
I'm glad I did, because every now and then I forget... I don't forget the changes in compassion and responsibility that MLK helped inspire in the Americans who listened to his words and the truths they represented, but rather, all that we chose not to listen to, all of the changes we chose not to enact, and all of the responsibilities we still do not fulfill to the detriment of all.
The email contained a link and the link contained a web page with both an audio file and a transcript of a speech that Dr. King delivered on April 4th, 1967, at Riverside Church, right here in New York City.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
The speech was not about the little Black and White children of the south holding hands in peace and harmony, but far more reaching and dangerous. The speech was about all of the children of the world, and their parents, and everyone else holding hands in peace and harmony. It was against the war in Vietnam. It was against poverty. It was against imperialism. It was for peace and the love that makes peace possible.
If only I could have awoken on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a stretch and a yawn, and a glass of orange juice which I would lift to the sky in a toast to a world with less sorrow. A world with less mindless violence (even if it meant no "Rambo" part... whatever), with less hunger (even if it meant I was forced to eat my dinner leftovers each day for lunch), and more care for all life (I know, I know the U.S. GNP might suffer). What a day that would be...
As I read this speech, the parallels between the 1960's that Dr. King spokes of and our own time were almost too obvious... shockingly obvious. Poor Americans are still being sent to other countries to kill other poor people. Billions of dollars are being borrowed and spent on war under the guise of democracy creation. Simultaneously, millions still live in poverty here in the U.S., without health care, jobs, some even homes, and our own democratic rights are being stifled. All that's missing are some assassinations (good luck Obama) and a presidential impeachment (The Republicans once again control the house…). How can this be? How can the similarities be so clear and yet the people who were alive at that time and are still living have allowed it to continue? How did they allow us to get back to this place? Or perhaps we never moved past it?
My parents, and others from their generation, always talk about the 1960's like it was a moment of breath in a drowning world. They had so much hope back then... back before most of them got complacent, or acceptant. The youth of that time honestly believed that the world was changing for the better and many of them fought hard for that world and me, their future who would inherit it.
It seemed like a magical time even for those who gave their lives for this future. Hell, I actually grew up in a post-civil rights era in which the nostalgia for the 60's and their icons like King, and X, and Kennedy x2, convinced me that being a "Martyr" was a worthy career ambition.
But then again, watching the parallels of today moves me to wonder what they actually accomplished, these fighters of freedom and their murdered iconic leaders? We celebrate MLK day each year as if equality arrived and became as interwoven into the fabric of America as the racism and oppression that preceded it.
The Black people know better (except for maybe Justice Thomas and Bill Cosby), so do the Latinos, and the poor, and the "Gays" (the happy people? I don't get it... ), and the women, and don't forget the people who began their lives and cultural history on this land thousands of years before the first Africans and Europeans disembarked from their ships. And I haven't even begun on how the U.S. treats the rest of the world.
For many people, their first response to this line of thought seems to usually be something like the following: "But things are so much different and better now compared to what it was like before, don't you see that?" If this is your first response I have the following questions: Are you white? Are you wealthy? Are you male? I could go on. The farther you exist from the power norm the less likely you are to look at U.S. progress as "the glass is half full."
There is that old saying, "The time for justice is always now" (or maybe I just heard that in Denzel's, last movie, but either way it sounds good). For a man like MLK, the American glass of justice, of equality, compassion, love, and freedom, is not just half empty, it's almost been drunk dry! Where are we? How long will we wait?
The power of America has always been its people, if this was not true how could MLK even have a national day dedicated to his work? But the people like our parents, even if they still fight, are far less hopeful than they used to be, and our fellow "citizens" are less educated as to what that title means now than they were fifty years ago, a clear sign that all of our progress has not be progressive enough!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s true greatness came from his ability to remind "the people" that they had the power to create whatever world they would; all that was needed to change the world is courage. Not money, but courage. The truth is that what are really needed are visionaries with enough charm to gain followers. Isn't it sad how the ones who actually seem to care about everyone are the ones who usually die young? What a coincidence no one wants to take up the reigns...
How we could use a man like MLK today. He understood so clearly the idea that underlies all of the largest religions of the world; the true test of character of any person or nation continues to be in not how we treat our own, but how we treat others, whether they be enemies or simply a different shade of color from ourselves.
On this day of remembrance, I search within myself for the courage that King would ask of me. Courage, the only thing that I can see changing the wrong of the world into right, easing the suffering of billions of brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers of mine. Of yours.
Today is a day to honor not just one man, but what he stood for. It is the same thing that Mrs. Tubman stood for and that Gandhi stood for. It is the same thing that Buddha stood for, the same thing that Jesus stood for and all of the great leaders of women and men since we began this thing we call "civilization." Peace, love, unity, and freedom are all obtainable now. It only depends on how much courage each of us has...
On how much courage each of us is willing to have to give up a possession or two, in standing up and saying "NO" to oppression even when we benefit from it. Courage to stop wasting food and water, and the courage to pay higher taxes and vote on substance and not looks. Courage to hold onto the responsibility to never stop fighting for the struggle, and of course, the courage to forget that which could divide us in favor of what binds us together, without the fear that we will lose that which makes us unique and special; Courage not to feel we are better than others.
On this day Martin Luther King cries for us, his family. Let us honor him and all those who came before us and attempted to pave the way towards progress. Let us have the courage to make it so that there is no "glass is half empty/ glass is half full" discussion. Let us fill this glass, not with the tears of sorrow of our honored, but tears of joy.
Happy MLK day... let's try stretching it out a bit longer this year.
Daisun Cohn-Williams
Human
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