Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 1987
Place: Chapel Hill North Carolina
Event: Glenwood Elementary School Play "Martin Luther King Jr."

Twenty years ago I had the opportunity to star in my school play based on Martin Luther King Jr. Just imagine a couple dozen 8-9 year olds tackling such intense issues as racism, discrimination, and assasination murder. I of course thought it was very serious and dramatic but to get a real perspective you'd have to ask the adults watching at the time. Our last school play was Rudyard Kipling's, The Jungle Book, a bit less intense in subject matter and despite my yearning desire to be Baloo the bear I had the misfortune to be cast as "the water" at the end of the play. I wore a Hawaiian shirt a shook some blue material (the water) on the floor as the seductress girl filled her water jug and enticed Mogli out of the jungle. After that experience I was looking forward to at least some lines in the next play. Well, the good news was I got a speaking part, the bad news is I was cast as a shoe salesman that wouldn't sell Martin Luther King Jr. shoes! The exchange went something like this...

Dr. King- Hello I'd like to look at some shoes.
Shoe Salesman- I don't serve your kind around here.

Are you freaking kidding me? The silent "Jungle Book" water boy all of sudden seemed like best role ever. Looking back I can't believe they had little nine year olds acting these scenarios out. The experience traumatized me in some way and I feel like I personally turned down Dr. King from buying some shoes. The outcome has been that Martin Luther King Jr. (not civil rights) day has occupied an important place in my psyche. The least I can do is put some of his inspiring words in my blog. If all of us applied these principles we'd be in a much better place. Enjoy.

"But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.