Most children are out of school today, and many of them don’t really understand why. They know why they get out for Christmas and Easter, but do your children know why Martin Luther King Jr. Day is special. If your child is in school today, then call the superintendent and say shame on them.
If America was given a grade for racial equality since the nation was first created, we would receive a F, and no one would have to think hard about why. Our most prominent founding fathers participated in slavery. Hate groups ran rampant, burning crosses on front lawns, beating and, on occasion, murdering innocent people. Even in the last century, our government drafted laws to keep people of a different race from voting and interacting with other children, creating a “separate but equal” standard. A standard that was anything but equal.
We had separate facilities for people of a different color. They were excluded from clubs, school and jobs, and were made to feel as though they were less of a person because they looked different.
Thankfully, for as long as there has been racism, there have been people giving their lives to show people that no race is better than another. Among the most charismatic and thought-provoking was the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who wanted equality through peaceful means.
King was a Baptist minister who strove for racial equality. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus boycott, helped create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was and is an icon for equality for millions of Americans.
In 1963, King delivered what has become a defining oratory in civil rights history. His “I Have a Dream” speech called for a colorblind society, where his children could grow up and prosper under an umbrella of equality.
King was assassinated in 1968, but his shining light still reaches to the far corners of our nation and the world. His light shines in the eyes of every man, woman and child who loves all people equally. America is still far from being perfect, and racism still can be seen and felt, but we have come along way thanks to people like Martin Luther King, Jr.
Take some time today to sit down with your children and tell them about the dark times of American history and the man who sacrificed everything to shine a light on that darkness and to show people that were was nothing to fear.
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.
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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