It is sobering to realize that January 15, 2019 would have been the 90th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of course, he was never allowed to live long enough to celebrate it.
I am a senior citizen, and I realize that fewer and fewer people alive today experienced the world that Martin Luther King, Jr. was born into. I never did, because I am white. But my father witnessed segregation (again, through the eyes of a white man who grew up in Brooklyn) when he was stationed in the Southern United States (Mississippi and Arkansas) for a part of his military service in World War II. He would use news stories about the Civil Rights movement as "teachable moments" for me.
Years later, I had the opportunity to meet Mudcat Grant, a former major league pitcher (and a member of the 12 Black Aces - black pitchers who had won at least 20 games in a season - quite an accomplishment) who grew up in Florida in the days of segregation. (He's 83 now).
He told a group of us the story of how a teenaged boy he knew as a young child was lynched because he had committed the crime of going in the front door of a white woman's house while delivering her groceries.
It wasn't just that lynching, but his mother's reaction that stuck with Mudcat the rest of his life. The reaction basically was that this is the way life was for his people, and he'd better get used to it.
What impressed me the most about meeting Mudcat Grant was his gentle-manliness. He was softspoken and you never would have guessed what he had gone through in his early years.
Now, hatred is on the rise again - and it is more and more acceptable to express that hatred, to the point of a Senator making offensive comments for years before being formally rebuked.
This hatred must be fought, least it once again become acceptable in our United States.
It is not enough to name streets all over our country for Martin Luther King, Jr. For what Mudcat Grant and others in our country went through, we must say "never again" to all hate.
Day 17 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
11 comments:
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Amen!
ReplyDeleteTalk is cheap. Even the supposed scolding of the anti-Semite, anti-Black, anti-Hispanic Steve King is pure BS. Instead of scolding TheDonald who leads the charge, they decide to hit King (who's been doing this for decades) hoping to fool those fools who don't pay attention that they 'all of a sudden' care about minorities- as they develop policies to oppress them.
ReplyDeleteI agree, we must say never again! And pay more attention to our history so we don't repeat it. Thanks for writing this post.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that gives me hope is the interaction I saw between my kids and their friends. None of them cared much about the color of their skin, especially through the high school years. It was various adults I noticed who had a problem with the relationships, not the kids themselves. We can only hope that, going forward, the acceptance I saw as being the norm for our younger generation will be maintained as old prejudices die out. It was a delight to watch these young adults treat each other as equals . . . progress is out there. So is hope.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see things on the rise again, but I think some of this racism never went away. We didn't notice it, and we thought that things had been fixed. Now sunlight is getting shined on all the issues that had lived under the surface for us. And it's up to us to help eradicate it, hopefully this time for good.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was only 5 years old when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. I don't remember much of it then but so much of it resonates with me as a Black woman. Glad you had an opportunity to meet Mudcat Grant.
ReplyDeleteWe need another MLK now, our country is in trouble ...
ReplyDeleteAs a 16 year old black girl living in Atlanta when Martin Luther King was killed, I, too, hope to never see the racism that was so common at that time. Thank you for your beautifully written post.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a story indeed.
ReplyDeleteWith bullying so rampant and I believe that kids learn this at home mostly, we definitely need to fix on love so that this generation will not go to rot.
That is a great book. I own it and met Mudcat, he was a great guy.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. And many of us need to overcome the denial about the history of racism.
ReplyDelete