This morning as we were sitting around the breakfast table it occurred to me that my kids know nothing about Martin Luther King Jr. So my wife and I talked about our country's history of slavery and the fall out of segregation. We discussed black people having to sit in the back of the bus, eating in a different part of the restaurant, going to different schools, and drinking from different drinking fountains.
Their cultural and historical ignorance was quite refreshing to me as they sat there dumbfounded. They couldn't wrap their minds around what we were saying. How could someone hate their sister just because she had a different skin color?
Oh how I wish we all had my children's point of view.
5 comments:
Thanks for sharing this Z, it hit home.
I purchased "Martin's Big Words" for my 5yo daughter... gorgeous illustrations. She was dumbfounded as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Martins-Big-Words-Martin-Luther/dp/0786807148
Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful perspective on this important day. It's understandable that the kids wouldn't "get" the racism issues that were so blatant in the past and only today more subtle. Hopefully educational experiences like they had today will only buttress their resolve to stand up for justice and freedom as they grow older and ultimately face racism head on--in general social terms but more specifically in the way in which they negotiate their identity as sibling to a beautiful African American sister.
While I agree with the sentiments expressed here, I remain dismayed that so many americans disregarded his words two years ago. "There will come a day when aa person is judged not by the color of theri skin but by the content of theri character" (I may not have the words exactly right, but the message is). What led our nation to elect an inexperienced Chicago political hack over a war hero, if it was not the color of his skin? Didn't something like 97% of African-Americans so vote? Color or content?
Anonymous white person:
Worry about yourself.
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