The day after… The dust has settled. What are you doing to keep Dr. King’s Dream Alive? What are you doing to improve the forward movement of the Black race? Are we sitting back waiting for someone to fill the shoes of the late Mayard Jackson and Hosea Williams?
My recent conversations were centered on -what my King Day activities would include, because it was a day ON, not OFF. I responded that was its great to celebrate a great man, his dream, and an entire movement, but what about what every other day of the year.
I think it’s important that we start to live each day improving the dream.
My mother used to not make a big deal about Valentine’s Day. My Father would bring home a large heart box full of chocolates for her with a card, and a smaller one for me. I wondered if that was all she wanted and why so many commercials encouraged a diamond purchase to complete the day. She told me that my dad bought her the things she wanted on any given day.
I realized early that each day counts. Not the ones encouraged by a tradition. But the days that you do something for a stranger just because, or the day you offer bring home flowers because it’s Wednesday…
We have to definitely Honor such an icon on his birthday. I’m not suggesting that it be ignored. However, I am encouraging us (me included) to start honoring our history, or story, or struggle, and each other everyday. We are such a diverse and intelligent culture, and we are letting it slip away.
We have to grasp what we have. Educate each other. Encourage strangers. Make new stories. New movements. New monumental moments. Our children have to speak about what those before us did. And our children’s children will not even care to speak of it…
