Personal Reflections on MLK Day

In 1967 my Dad was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C.   The previous 10 yrs he had been stationed on military bases overseas where my fundamental years began.  I lived with, went to school with and played with kids from all ethnic backgrounds. Where we lived, where we shopped, where we went to the movies, the bowling alleys, went swimming, and so forth, and it didn’t matter. Everyone mixed together and it was acceptable. I couldn't comprehend my extended family’s standards back in the southern States this wasn't acceptable.

In the spring of 1968  there were riots in D.C, fires being set to buildings, marches and a demonstration call Resurrection City. The adults in my extended family from Virginia, who lived on the other side of the Potomac River, would talk.  I would hear some of the most hateful remarks. “That n**g*r preacher is stirring up all kinds of non-sense.” “Good, I am glad he got shot, maybe now those n**g*rs will settle down and go back home.”  I remember during the 6 weeks of the Resurrection City demonstration it rained and rained. The news talked about the health issues and the outbreak of disease “these people” bring.  The most hateful comment of all I heard, “This rain is God’s way to get rid of these n**g*rs”

Dr. Martin Luther King’s peaceful demonstration of Resurrection City brought the most impressive memory for me of those times. The perseverance, strength, conviction, fearlessness and peacefulness it took to endure that all men are created equal.

“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”   Declaration of Independence

In my young heart I knew these attitudes were not right and do I dare ask,” Why don’t we like them?” “Why can’t I be friends with them?” “Why do we have separate schools?”  The answer was, “They are not our kind and get those thoughts out of your mind.”  I was sent to live with my Grandparents in the South where I wouldn’t have all the Northern influences.  What they failed to realize was my influences were already set from my fundamental years.