Another Year to Commemorate the King

As another year comes and goes, its time commemorate my hero Martin Luther King Jr. His way with words and as a fierce orator changed America forever. Perspective has changed for me, I now live in a small town in Southwest Georgia. MLK Jr. once called the sheriff of Americus, “the meanest man in the whole world,” after a visit in 1961. The famed video of a group of young white men in suits linking arms to not allow black people to attend their church was at First Baptist and first Methodist of Americus. Those churches are less than a mile from my house. The famed integrated Koinonia Christian Community, which MLK Jr. once visited is just a few miles outside of town. The history of this town is rich. The scars are still here. Blatant racism is more prevalent here than many places I’ve been.  With that said, it’s a different kind of racism. I don’t believe it’s a deep seeded hatred. It appears as though may folks elders hold a deep racism and its only passed down through family. Either young adults or kids will make racist comments but it appears as though they are just repeating words that they have previously heard and not truly believe the words they are saying. Even with the more blatant racism I see, I still believe its just a short matter of time before deep seeded racism will be a thing of the past. There is too much evidence that there are fundamental differences between people because of their race, that it’s a matter of time till the shallow racism that prevails will be snuffed out.

As I posted last year though, Martin Luther King Jr. was not just a man standing up for civil rights, especially toward the end of his short lived life, he expanded his words to speak out about many more injustices in the world. The growing inequality in America and war on Vietnam are just two issues MLK Jr. was approaching with more veracity. Let’s celebrate the true MLK Jr. and work together to create a world more fair for all people who inhabit it, regardless of race, land boarder, religion or economic status. 

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
Martin Luther King, Jr.


Democracy Now- as always, amazing.