January 16, 2005

Martin Luther King

April 4, 1968 - To me, that will always be the day that I remember where I was when I heard of Martin Luther King's assassination. We lived near Fort Wayne IN on Coverdale Rd. I was 9 years old and in bed sick. It was my younger sister's seventh birthday party. My paternal grandparents had come over for the party (in the evening). Even then I had the habit of listening to the radio a lot, usually WOWO (which was a 50K watt powerhouse back then). The news came over that Martin Luther King had been assassinated. I was shocked that this had happened and went and told my parents the news. I do not remember the reaction.

I firmly believe in the same ideals that Martin Luther King stood for. There is no reason that all of us shouldn't be able to deal with each other as equals, regardless of race, religion, nationality, politics, etc. I don't think, though, that we will ever get past that. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be working our tails off to try and get past it. Unfortunately, though, if we get rid of prejudice against one race (i.e. blacks), we will unknowingly transfer it to another group (blondes?). And prejudice can be as simple as "OK, kids, we are in a bad neighborhood. Lock the doors." when you drive through a black neighborhood. On Martin Luther King day, let's take some time to reflect on how we can work better with those around us WITHOUT the preconceptions that have hindered the races down through the centuries. Do away with the racial remarks that have caused hatred (racial jokes, flagwords, etc). Look at ALL the people around the world as people and not less than you.

One more question that (sort of) ties in with this. Who came up with the color scheme? "Caucasians" (my relatives came from the area of the Germanic tribes, not the Russian Caucasus region) aren't white (my oldest daughter says that we are more like a peach color and she's right), "black" people aren't black (not even in Africa. Arguably, though, they could be said to be closer, but it's still not a true black. I've been to Kenya. I know), "Orientals" aren't yellow and the Native Americans aren't red. I have tried to research this and it all been to no avail.