On MLK Day
Every year on this day I link to the singular thing that I am most proud of writing in my time here on LJ, On Discussing the Issue of Race/Racism. I encourage you to read it not simply because much of Dr. King's legacy is on how we approach the topic of race, but as we tend to have this discussion about the subject today, I think it helps put things into context.
But the other thing I wanted to do is add a deeper understanding of that legacy with an article I read late last year and some personal thoughts and observations.
I'm going to ask your indulgence because:
1.) Having this conversation is always difficult.
2.) The article is passionate and in some cases angry.
3.) I'm going to be passionate too, but I'm going to try and avoid being angry.
4.) I'm going to ask that YOU be patient with me and try not to get angry either.
5.) And this is the most important. NO MATTER WHAT I SAY HERE. It's NOT ABOUT *YOU*. If I describe and act or a behavior or something from history, it is about that thing. And if you committed a similar act, engaged in a behavior I described or were part of that history...*it still isn't about you*. I need you to remember that. That's vital.
And now to the point of this entire exercise which is that, we live in a world of an unfortunate truth...
Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did
I include myself in that category as well. Because as much as my parents who grew up and lived in this world told me about it. It isn't the world I lived in or grew up in.
There is a tendency to view Dr. King's legacy as something lost to history or something that happened "long ago", but my aunts and uncles and my parents...they are still here. That presence means it wasn't so long ago. In our high speed "now now now" culture, it might have been a while, but in the lives of my family and families like mine...it's yesterday. It's not history to them. It's life and living. It's their lives.
As I have mentioned many times, my parents are children of the segregated South.
That terror mentioned in the article, that was their daily lives. It informed how they lived. And to a certain extent, as the generation that immediately followed, it informs mine. But it does so second hand, in their stories and the stories of my aunts and uncles and their bearing when they tell those stories.
And when I say it informs how I live, it informs how I behave. Part of the reason, my anger is controlled or limited is because that is part of the behavior that was seen as dangerous. Because it was. And while I don't have any reason to do this to be "safe" (at least I hope not), this is what I was taught to be. Maybe not in words, but deed. And part of that lesson comes from what my mother and father experienced. Watching my dad as I grew up and seeing the men my uncles were made me this way.
I don't tell these say this to make anyone feel guilty or to point fingers. As I said above, it's about the behavior, the thing...not the person.
It's just a personal link and a reminder that we're still working through Dr. King's legacy in ways both large and small. Partially because we don't know or remember precisely what that legacy is.
If you say that Dr. King changed the world, this is the world he changed. It's an uncomfortable conversation, but the conversations that move us forward and keep us moving forward often are.
None of this is to say that the "I Have a Dream" speech isn't an important touchstone in American history. It is. But we cannot lose the reason why.
And that's my point, to understand where we're going, to make sure we stay on that path, we need to understand where we've been and to be able to converse about the subject with clarity...we need context. I hope what I wrote today provided a little.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Peace,
- O.
But the other thing I wanted to do is add a deeper understanding of that legacy with an article I read late last year and some personal thoughts and observations.
I'm going to ask your indulgence because:
1.) Having this conversation is always difficult.
2.) The article is passionate and in some cases angry.
3.) I'm going to be passionate too, but I'm going to try and avoid being angry.
4.) I'm going to ask that YOU be patient with me and try not to get angry either.
5.) And this is the most important. NO MATTER WHAT I SAY HERE. It's NOT ABOUT *YOU*. If I describe and act or a behavior or something from history, it is about that thing. And if you committed a similar act, engaged in a behavior I described or were part of that history...*it still isn't about you*. I need you to remember that. That's vital.
And now to the point of this entire exercise which is that, we live in a world of an unfortunate truth...
Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did
I include myself in that category as well. Because as much as my parents who grew up and lived in this world told me about it. It isn't the world I lived in or grew up in.
There is a tendency to view Dr. King's legacy as something lost to history or something that happened "long ago", but my aunts and uncles and my parents...they are still here. That presence means it wasn't so long ago. In our high speed "now now now" culture, it might have been a while, but in the lives of my family and families like mine...it's yesterday. It's not history to them. It's life and living. It's their lives.
As I have mentioned many times, my parents are children of the segregated South.
That terror mentioned in the article, that was their daily lives. It informed how they lived. And to a certain extent, as the generation that immediately followed, it informs mine. But it does so second hand, in their stories and the stories of my aunts and uncles and their bearing when they tell those stories.
And when I say it informs how I live, it informs how I behave. Part of the reason, my anger is controlled or limited is because that is part of the behavior that was seen as dangerous. Because it was. And while I don't have any reason to do this to be "safe" (at least I hope not), this is what I was taught to be. Maybe not in words, but deed. And part of that lesson comes from what my mother and father experienced. Watching my dad as I grew up and seeing the men my uncles were made me this way.
I don't tell these say this to make anyone feel guilty or to point fingers. As I said above, it's about the behavior, the thing...not the person.
It's just a personal link and a reminder that we're still working through Dr. King's legacy in ways both large and small. Partially because we don't know or remember precisely what that legacy is.
If you say that Dr. King changed the world, this is the world he changed. It's an uncomfortable conversation, but the conversations that move us forward and keep us moving forward often are.
None of this is to say that the "I Have a Dream" speech isn't an important touchstone in American history. It is. But we cannot lose the reason why.
And that's my point, to understand where we're going, to make sure we stay on that path, we need to understand where we've been and to be able to converse about the subject with clarity...we need context. I hope what I wrote today provided a little.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Peace,
- O.