|
I'm reposting this from Soapbox. Martin Luther King Jr. had a BIG
impact on me. Maybe a lot of it has to do with being black, but not all
of it. His message of love has some serious appeal...
There was an editorial in the Middlesex News that started with "Dear
Martin, Just Writing to Let You Know..." My letter takes that flavor as
well. I hope others who are so inclined will consider sharing their
views. My personal belief is that King's Legacy was never meant to
belong exclusively to black people. So, don't let your race stop you
from writing.
I am a person who grapples with Martin's human frailties: womanizing
and plagarizing. But at the same time, if his DR. title was stripped
away, I think I'd be comfortable, because he EARNED his Nobel Prize. I
spent the weekend reading his speeches and hearing his sermons, and
seeing the love he had in his heart, and the dream he had in his mind
for America. For black people AND white people. He did make a BIG
difference. I don't think any black person would ever be stupid enough
to say he didn't. White people who say such don't surprise me
anymore... (a response to a comment in Soapbox.)
So, here's my letter.
Jan 20th, 1992
Dear Martin,
First, let me thank you for speaking the words which came from
your heart. Its been 25+ years, and some of them, we know from memory.
That you had a dream. That you had seen the promised land, and although
you might not get there yourself, you knew we would some day. That you
believed that little black boys and girls and little white boys and
girls would someday hold hands together. That when you had to explain
to your young children that black children couldn't go to the local
amusement park, something snapped inside, and that's just one reason
"why we can't wait".
Nina Simone wrote a song called "The King of Love is Dead" as a
eulogy. It hurt a lot of us Martin, to lose you, to lose your idealism
in a world where idealism is so often laughed at and ridiculed, and
worse still believed to be ineffective. That March on Washington is
STILL a rich memory in the minds of 300,000 people who were there, as
well as countless others who were glued to the TV screen, trying to be
a part of a miracle. We've never, ever had a more successful march,
Martin. Not on any topic.
Its not fun to tell you how it is now. Nobody is holding high the
torch of love like you did in the sixties. Nobody has arms high enough
to get the torch up there. Hate rules, Martin. Hate and violence. I
have my torch. I hold it as high as I can. But sometimes, I succumb.
Love is a hard thing to hold in your heart toward everyone these days.
You probably want to know how black folks are doing. Its a mixed
bag, Martin. Innocent children don't get hosed down and have dogs sent
out to attack them... but oh, you should see what happens if someone
thinks we're guilty. Criminals are the first line for turning hate
towards. Everyone thinks they're a legitimate target. People who were
KNOWN to have done wrong... its just that a lot of 'em are black,
Martin. They say its not a race thing. But sometimes, sometimes, I
think the color of our criminal population makes it just a little
easier for folks to pretend they aren't human. We've got 600,000 black
men in the penal system, Martin. And a lot of them don't have much to
hope for.
Hope is the operative word. I think you gave people a special hope...
but they took it too far. We had the dream, and we decided we couldn't
wait. But the pendulum stopped swinging at a certain point, and even if
it isn't as bad as it was, we're so busy talking about the fact that
we're not as far as we expected to get, that sometimes we won't admit
that where we are is better than Jim Crow days. You never said it would
be easy, you never said it would happen overnight. And you said love
was the key. People seem to have forgotten that last part... we're
quick to take love out of the recipe and then wonder why it doesn't
happen.
What's happening to us, you ask? We've got a few folks who are
working REAL hard to make a difference. Coretta, especially. You'd be
REAL proud of her, Martin. She wants to keep your dream alive. There's
a woman named Oprah Winfrey who's made some money in talk shows, and
she's sharing it, investing it in black people and education. In
helping young black women make something more of their lives than just
babies. And then there's Bill Cosby. Did you see him on I Spy with
Robert Culp? He's also doing good things with his millions. And trying
to be a positive role model who cuts across race, trying to touch the
hearts of all people. And there's Stevie Wonder. The little blind kid
with the harmonica. His music is so filled with love. He also wrote a
song about you. We've put some blacks in office. We have a black
governor in Virginia. A black mayor in New York and Chicago and LA.
White people heard your message, Martin, and some of them really are
willing to judge people by the content of their character instead of
the color of their skin. Jesse Jackson developed this thing called a
Rainbow Coalition. It had your flavor, Martin. And there were white
people who felt that, and decided to rally when he ran for president.
Your touches are felt everywhere. Sometimes they are subtle. Sometimes
they ring with love and harmony. And it does *ME* good to remember some
of the positive things.
But yes, a lot of us are still poor. We're seeing a further
deterioration of the family. The things you predicted about families
when "responsibly black men are forced to act irresponsibly", when a
black woman raising a family alone can sometimes do better with a
Welfare check than she does with a husband on minimum wage... it did
hurt us Martin. Just as you predicted. We have a new group of children
with little hope. They're not sure what good education is. They don't
know if "the system" will give them jobs. They don't always know love
in their own homes. They don't have enough role models. Not enough
people reach out to them. And when they have no hope, they get angry.
Violent. Abusive. Its black kids, white kids, Chinese kids, etc. We
had punk and now have skinheads. We have hate music representing life
"in the street". We have gang wars where kids shoot kids over drugs...
or sneakers... or dating women of the wrong race... or being thought
to. And when these people grow up, they're still intolerant. The KKK is
back with a vengeance, and well-meaning, "neutral" people cite the 1st
Amendment instead of questioning the whys and generating harmonious
solution. People don't seem to WANT love and harmony.
The pie, the big American pie, doesn't look infinite anymore, and
we fight for our piece of it. We jump on the race bandwagon so quickly.
We have factionalized. Its RARE that we remember that we're have being
American in common. It doesn't count for enough any more. We have this
"Afro-centric" movement that would make you wonder. Its not like we
haven't claimed kinship to Africa before. My 80+ year old aunt says
this is the THIRD time this century we've revived the theme. But
somehow, we get into this trap of dividing ourselves with it. If you
don't espouse it, you're branded. And heaven forbid if you actually
believe in integration - NOT assimilation - and haven't let go of the
Dream about little black children and little white children. Sometimes
these people write letters, like this one, subtly putting down your
dream, talking about how out of date you are. They probably say Jesus
is out of date, too... They'd rather talk about John's Revelation, and
try to figure out who's going to burn in hell.
Martin, I know you were human. I won't even go into all the things
I know... the things the FBI talked about. The things ABERNATHY talked
about. The things the universities question. But we need more people
who had your dream. More people with your message. People don't believe
that love is a valid answer to the world's dilemmas. But I just
haven't seen any other answer that doesn't include people dying, not
just "not afraid to die".
We're killing each other in horrible numbers and nobody says enough
of anything to make a difference. We make babies that we haven't the
resources or fortitude to raise, much less enough love in our hearts.
There ARE new issues. But the message of love still holds. I know
that's the part that you would never change, Martin.
I want you to know that I hold your message deep in my heart.
And I've met others who do. Who try to approach the world with love.
Who hate the sin but love all sinners. Who believe that respecting your
fellow person is the right thing to do. Who know that the more people
of EVERY nationality we get working together, the better chance we have
of making America great... we still exist Martin.
And I promise, not just on the one day that they named in your
memory, but every day that I can, I'll try to act on your dream. To
love people, or as they say in my religion (I'm Buddhist), have
compassion. Its hard to turn the other cheek, but I *have* learned that
its easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar. And that my words
reach more people when I show my compassion for people's differences
instead of annoyance.
Maybe it doesn't seem like much if you only get one letter from one
person saying that I wholeheartedly believe in your dream.
But I know, in the depths of my soul, that I am not alone.
Thank you for being such a great messenger,
Lauren Foster
|