Martin Luther King Day
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Indeed. I always take some time on this day to talk to my children about who Dr. King was and what he was all about. I'll probably play part of his "I have a dream" speech for them today as well. I also tell them one of my mother's stories:
She grew up in the deep south and her parents harbored deep prejudices. When she was sent to a private girls college in the mid-1950's she actually had some black classmates, the children of staff members, and found out for the first time that people are all the same.
One hot early summer day she and a classmate were walking through a park downtown and they both stopped at a drinking fountain to drink. As the classmate was drinking an angry policeman came upon the scene, pointed out the "White's Only" sign on the fountain, and threatened to arrest her. The friend, highly educated and very articulate, told the policeman in a fake voice "Ah'm sorry mistah officer, but ah caint read."
The policeman let them go with an admonition, but that moment was a major turning point in my mother's life. She felt ashamed, ashamed of the laws and attitudes that forced her friend into that situation. My mother raised myself and my siblings to be without racial prejudice as a result. People are people.
She grew up in the deep south and her parents harbored deep prejudices. When she was sent to a private girls college in the mid-1950's she actually had some black classmates, the children of staff members, and found out for the first time that people are all the same.
One hot early summer day she and a classmate were walking through a park downtown and they both stopped at a drinking fountain to drink. As the classmate was drinking an angry policeman came upon the scene, pointed out the "White's Only" sign on the fountain, and threatened to arrest her. The friend, highly educated and very articulate, told the policeman in a fake voice "Ah'm sorry mistah officer, but ah caint read."
The policeman let them go with an admonition, but that moment was a major turning point in my mother's life. She felt ashamed, ashamed of the laws and attitudes that forced her friend into that situation. My mother raised myself and my siblings to be without racial prejudice as a result. People are people.
MerakSpielman
First Post
Yeah, people are people. But I get the feeling that some people aren't satisfied with just being people like everybody else.
MLKJ day is great for history teaching. You can get to all kinds of places from it:
MLKJ -> Civil Rights -> history of blacks in america -> slavery -> civil war -> etc...
or
MLKJ -> Gandhi -> Indian History -> British Imperialism -> etc...
MLKJ day is great for history teaching. You can get to all kinds of places from it:
MLKJ -> Civil Rights -> history of blacks in america -> slavery -> civil war -> etc...
or
MLKJ -> Gandhi -> Indian History -> British Imperialism -> etc...
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