Martin Luther King Day

Many people returned to work and school today after our observance of Martin Luther King Day yesterday. It was a day to reflect on the work of a visionary who sought to bring about social and political change through non-violent means. There were public performances of Dr King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which was originally delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. President Barak Obama called for a Day of Service yesterday. Yet, holidays like this make me wonder how many of us actually consider what this "day off" was for. Stores are now holding MLK Day sales, which seems in poor taste to me.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's seems more relevant to me this year than ever. This election season, our politicians are questioning the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I also recently read the popular novel "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. For me, this was a real eye opening look at a sad chapter of our American history that I lacked an awareness of even though it described a period that occurred during my lifetime. I grew up in the 1960's as a young child in New York. I attended a Bronx Public School, where everyone from all the neighborhoods walked to school together. We had very diverse classrooms, all ate together in the cafeteria and drank from the same water fountains. I recall lunchroom conversations around the table as to who was cuter: Donny Osmond or the yet unaltered Michael Jackson. In those days, the main vampire on TV was Barnabas Collins on "Dark Shadows" and, believe me, he didn't sparkle. However, according to "The Help," the early 1960's was a time when you saw such things in the South as separate lunch counters, and water fountains, and it wouldn't be odd for a white family to build a separate bathroom at their home for their black maid. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who is now 70 and recalls his first trip to the South as a young Marine in the early 60's. He was thirsty when he got off the bus and drank from the first water fountain he saw at the depot. It was after he heard the gasps around him that he realized he had drunk from a 'blacks only' water fountain.


Kim Palmer photo

I would think that these things would have occurred 100 years ago and not just under 50 years ago. And yet as primative as this thinking seems to me, I am again surprised by the current headlines about the Cincinnati, Ohio landlord who wanted to bar a young 10 year old biracial child from her swimming pool. She posted this sign in what was found to be a clear violation of the state's Anti Discrimination law. I Have a Dream that someday, even Jamie Hein will 'Get It.'