50 Years After Dr. King’s Death, New Lessons for Today

I believe what MLK Jr. said then holds true today: "We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go". Indeed we do. I am old enough to remember those halcyon years, and I must tell those who were not around then that our current situation is not as bad. Many problems besetting US then have become passe today. We have one major crisis today. He resides in the White House. By default an egotistical, know-nothing demagogue became president. From Day One, this Instigator-in -Chief has fomented bi-polarization of this nation, pitting one against another. This chasm is being deepened by the embellishment of politicos and pundits. They have not helped, only hindered. If you lucky enough to get out of your bubble, travel around this great country of ours, as my wife are fortunate enough to do in our retirement, you will witness first-hand just how wonderful and marvelous a people we are. Most of US are goodhearted folks, just trying to get by, taking it one day at a time. We don't argue ad nauseam on TV because we aren't paid millions to do so. We have more important things to do with their lives. When you hear toxic rhetoric being bandied about, remember, politicos and pundits are doing this to further their lively-hood. They don't have a clue because they don't really see America the way we average Americans do. Turn them off, turn on the everyday people you meet daily. They are the salts of the Earth that make America great. DD Manhattan

Memphis in 1968: the dramatic stage play, “Tears of the Soul” commemorates the Memphis Sanitation Strike and Dr. King’s assassination 50 years ago. Please Visit: http://www.theangelwingproject.org/‬

Two weeks ago I had the honor of seeing Martin Luther King Jr. in museum exhibits both in New York City and Washington, DC. Later this month I will be able to go to Memphis and have the honor there of viewing Civil Rights movements, and then on to Selma, to finally, after decades of being on the bucket list, respectfully walk the Pettus Bridge. I am bothered by movements these days to separate black and white respect and honor for the Civil Rights movement and to separate human concern in terms of our colors. The Women’s March in Green Bay, Wisconsin is one of those places that attempted to separate us rather than try to bring us together. Of course there are many white folks who simply could not understand the strife of Blacks. And there are many who do not and would never care, who carry hate, and neglect, and inhumanity in their hearts and in their deeds. But please, please, do not categorize us. Please don’t disallow our intellect, our passion and compassion by looking at the whiteness of our skin. Please give an open chance when possible that there are those of us, especially seniors, who also wept outwardly and inwardly in April, 1968, because we also believed in a man, the man, who might just be the just soul to get rid of skin colored difference so we could better live together, support each other, grow our children and grandchildren together, fight for better and fairer government together, have better schools together, stop brutality together - was gone!

Civil disobedience campaigns were a hallmark of MLK. However I wonder what would have happened if MLK had focused on the black community and exhorted blacks not just to seek civil rights and racial equality but to also seek, relentlessly, a new future for blacks through education, personnel achievement and strengthening of black families and family life. Equal rights for men and women, equal salaries, and pursuing a share of the system are admirable goals. Ending segregation in America was a necessity. But more important was the great need to raise up existing communities, build stronger families and create new opportunity for civil and personal advancement through higher education.

MLK was an amazing guy. Every media personality and radio host from left to right fawns over him, rightly so. He stood for the rightness of one’s character, for the idea of being an excellent person as at the heart of being treated equally. For not blaming others for your problems but RT demanding equality under the law, and got it. Unfortunately, those who claimed to pick up his mantle, just like those who came after Ghandi and Mandela, did not. The Jesse Jackson’s, Al Sharpton’s and John Lewis’s decided instead of taking the high road and seeking the call for unity and personal responsibility, decided to put their own short term political and financial goals ahead of higher principles, and peddled in industrial-grade victimhood, promoting a system of anti-virtues that instead of finding purpose in achievement, self-betterment and service, romps in the muck of grievance, division and toxic identify politics. Authors here, namely Charles Blow, happily trumpet this prostituted, lowest-common denominator anti-MLK agenda. Perhaps not even knowing they do more the ensure MLK’s vision never sees the light than anyone else.

I visited the museum as a visitor from the UK last autumn. Unbelievable place. Came out of it humble and in awe.

It is unfortunate that more has not improved for people of color (POC) in America. Blacks still find themselves with record unemployment, record poverty, discrimination in areas of hiring, housing and employment advancement.... I find myself, on the precipice of retirement, looking forward to leaving America and moving to Africa. The rebound of racism, that remains in the hearts and minds of so many Americans, makes me to want to leave this very angry place. In spite of Dr. King's efforts to shift racist attitudes and see advancements for POC, there is an indelible hatred and angry mindset by some to maintain the status quo from the dark days of Jim Crow and the pre-1960s era.

As a white American woman who lived through the entire civil rights period I felt then, as I do now, a deep sense of shame about my country. My "awakening" came as I saw the race riots of Newark. The horror and heartbreak of seeing human beings chased by vicious dogs, water blasting their bodies into the air, being attacked and struck with the might of hatred aimed at them. I curled in grief, same as I do today whenever our president opens his mouth full of the same hatred. I adored Martin Luther King Jr. When he was murdered and taken away from us a landscape of light died within me that day. Until the day I came to know and love Barack Obama. A raging fire was lit in my soul when he became president. One can't put into words the majesty of the man, nor can I describe my pride and joy having him as president for 8 years. When he took off in the helicopter to leave with Michelle I felt a horror so deep and painful it rocked my body and soul. Inside a small voice crying "please don't leave us, don't go" for I knew the horror to come and replace him and this horror grows in scope and intensity every single day. The suffering is unending. I'm tired and disgusted at the senseless murder of black men by cops "just doing their jobs" Black Lives Matter. All lives matter. I'm sick to death of America's killing fields. "Only when its dark enough can you see the stars." Yes, Dr. King, I see them, but only in the sky at night. And its darker than ever in America. I'm woke.