This year I am blank, most days I go to write I either cannot say something because of edicts from my District, or I find I am a flawed vehicle, or I simply am silent out of frustration overwhelmed with my own issues of health and realization I am not a voice in the night.
I was thinking about King when I stumbled upon a thread in a kindergarten site I like to read for ideas to teach the very young kids I took on teaching in TK. It was about whether his death should be mentioned or taught to young children. In fact it was a heated thread, as a particular group definitely went right to firing a teacher and lawsuits because a child came home sure their teacher told kids whites killed a blackman and whites are the bad folk in this story. And then after I asked for differing perspectives on teaching King's murder, several teachers of color had quite a bit to say about what they must teach their own children right from the cradle. They had quite a strong belief in the entirety of his life and death narrative. It didn't resolve the issue for me, but it did broaden my perspectives. This year my eager young class seems to live unaware of skin color. I have never heard them reference anything about it. And my group, as my husband noted, has never had a greater diversity across many spectrums. That in itself no small accomplishment. We just lack anyone who has any affluence-as do most of our public schools.
But am I sleeping through a Revolution?
My daughter Sylvia provided me a link to her current favorite Martin Luther King Junior speech. It is, as she noted, as if it was written today. I suppose that is something noticed across my teaching life-how relevant personally his writings have been. In the speech I kept thinking of our current situation, of the things that we are seeing in our times.
In the speech, if I may quote from it, this hit me this morning:
Now there is another problem facing us that we must deal with if we are to remain awake through a social revolution. We must get rid of violence, hatred, and war. Anyone who feels that the problems of mankind can be solved through violence is sleeping through a revolution. I've said this over and over again, and I believe it more than ever today. We know about violence. It's been the inseparable twin of Western materialism, the hallmark of its grandeur. I am convinced that violence ends up creating many more social problems than it solves. This is why I say to my people that if we succumb to the temptation of using violence in our struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness. There is another way - a way as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth and as modern as the techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi. For it is possible to stand up against an unjust system with all of your might, with all of your body, with all of your soul, and yet not stoop to hatred and violence. Something about this approach disarms the opponent. It exposes his moral defenses, weakens his morale, and at the same time, works on his conscience. He doesn't know how to handle it. So it is my great hope that, as we struggle for racial justice, we will follow that philosophy and method of non-violent resistance, realizing that this is the approach that can bring about that better day of racial justice for everyone.
We see here that stand for non-violence.
At the heart of his core principles.
I wonder what King would think of and say about our times, about our politicians, about our global issues of climate and wars. How would he act?
What would he suggest we do?
What would he suggest we teach our children?
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