Where were you 40 years ago?
Apr. 4th, 2008 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerI'm figuring that most of you were not around as for me I was four. I was just becoming aware of how big the world was. I can honestly say I don't remember the day he died but I do remember news reports afterwards and for some reason the search for the killer who was captured in London.
After we moved to Atlanta, I learned a lot more about Dr. King. I would hear his name in conjunction with Kennedy and Gandhi. For a while I though that President Kennedy and Dr. King were killed the same day but eventually I got that sorted out.
When you grow up in Atlanta, you can't avoid Dr. King's legacy. It is, honestly, all around you. The church where he preached is still there, I have driven by it more times than I care count. There is the King center. And there is the family itself. I met Coretta Scott King twice when I lived down in Atlanta. Both times it was in connection to some play I was working on at the time.
But Dr. King is bigger than those memorials in Atlanta. What he did and how he did it is a shining example of how words have power to change the world. Dr. King was a brilliant orator probably one of the best that America has ever produced. To this day I get goosebumps listening to recordings of his most famous speeches. His voice made you listen carefully to what he was saying. You knew you were hearing something important.
And there are all the people out there doing good in the world who list Dr. King as one of the people who influenced their lives. Dr. King brought people together. His work in the civil rights movement is unparallel and is used as an example of how to do civil disobedience the right way.
The legacy of Doctor King lives on to this day. His work was bigger than the bullet that took him down 40 years ago today.
Dr. King, you are remembered.
I am grateful for all that Dr. King did in his lifetime.
After we moved to Atlanta, I learned a lot more about Dr. King. I would hear his name in conjunction with Kennedy and Gandhi. For a while I though that President Kennedy and Dr. King were killed the same day but eventually I got that sorted out.
When you grow up in Atlanta, you can't avoid Dr. King's legacy. It is, honestly, all around you. The church where he preached is still there, I have driven by it more times than I care count. There is the King center. And there is the family itself. I met Coretta Scott King twice when I lived down in Atlanta. Both times it was in connection to some play I was working on at the time.
But Dr. King is bigger than those memorials in Atlanta. What he did and how he did it is a shining example of how words have power to change the world. Dr. King was a brilliant orator probably one of the best that America has ever produced. To this day I get goosebumps listening to recordings of his most famous speeches. His voice made you listen carefully to what he was saying. You knew you were hearing something important.
And there are all the people out there doing good in the world who list Dr. King as one of the people who influenced their lives. Dr. King brought people together. His work in the civil rights movement is unparallel and is used as an example of how to do civil disobedience the right way.
The legacy of Doctor King lives on to this day. His work was bigger than the bullet that took him down 40 years ago today.
Dr. King, you are remembered.
I am grateful for all that Dr. King did in his lifetime.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 01:21 pm (UTC)NPR had a piece concerning Dr. King this morning, amongst many, that really hit me. They talked about Robert Kennedy on his campaign trail, and how he made what was going to be "just another campaign stop." Apparently he turned to someone with him and asked, "Do you think they know about Martin Luther King yet?" and was told no, probably not. Then NPR played audio from that stop of RFK telling the crowd as gently as possible what had happened, and the crowd reaction.... ohhh, just heartrending.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 01:21 pm (UTC)The only thing I remember about Dr. King back then was wondering why somebody wanted him dead. I remember watching the news with my father and asking him all sorts of questions ("He looks like a nice man!" "What does 'civil rights' mean?" What do you mean everybody's not equal? We'll ALL people!")
He went to school up here, then was an assistant pastor at one of the big inner-city churches before moving back down south. The civil rights movement up here was no doubt just as ugly as it was down South because the Boston area was quite racially divided. It still is.
What's always surprised me is that a lot of people didn't like him, especially some African-Americans. I wonder if it's because they thought he was being too "white"...???
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 01:34 pm (UTC)When I was in Memphis we stopped at the Lorraine Motel and laid a rose on the memorial there. I was so....moved....I just felt overcome with emotion. We had to make a decision between stopping there and going to Graceland, for me there wasn't even a discussion. I wanted so much to share a piece of Dr. King's history.
The man changed the world.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 03:13 pm (UTC)It wasn't that much of a "decision"... I do wonder what they do with the roses people leave. I'm sure there will be a lot today.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:04 pm (UTC)Which is odd, considering my parents were both quiet yet determined civil rights activists.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:13 pm (UTC)Did you know that I was Coretta Scott King's massage therapist for about 4 years? She was a great lady.
And, I totally agree with you on Dr. King's legacy.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 03:49 pm (UTC)