Listen to this story: If you’re in the car, or cooking, or just lazy… you can listen to me read this story for you, in the audio file below.
School is back and I’m owning my days again. This week though, we paused to remember Martin Luther King Jr. I’m never thrilled when the holiday comes around - the kids have been out of the house for only a week and I already have another whole day to help them fill.
I think the holiday is great, I just wish baby Martin didn’t happen to be born at the start of the school term.
Around the day, news and social media are awash with well-meaning King quotes (what a writer he was) and moody portraits of the man himself. Then most of the world goes back to ignoring his cause, sadly. But in that first week back from winter break the kids did at least study Dr King’s work, which I always love to hear.
There are plenty of places in this mixed up country where a kindergartner learning about the civil rights movement would be frowned upon, even outlawed. But thankfully not at our children’s public school.
At dinner last week my daughter recalled the day’s lesson about Dr King, and finished up by telling me that she was sitting next to a Black friend at the time. “I said to M…” she recalled earnestly, “if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King, we couldn’t be at school together!” (Well, she actually said “Martha” Luther King, but she’s six and learning, so I let it slide.)
I’m not sure I achieved that sort of clarity in kindergarten. Hearing her express it made me feel okay for a moment, like maybe my wife and I were doing this right for once. Or at least the school is.
So though the world is still a mess - far removed from King’s dream - and the break has slowed down my new year productivity this week (hence the short piece for now), my daughter better prepared me to enjoy the holiday, which we did.
The arc of the moral universe is long, as Dr King so eloquently put it. Let’s hope these kids can keep bending it toward justice. Because most days it feels like the grown-ups aren’t pushing nearly hard enough.
Suggested Reading: seeing as I kept it brief this week, if you haven’t already, I humbly recommend reading Martin Luther King Jr’s incredible and moving Letter From Birmingham Jail, here.
Love your review of the very important holiday 😀
At your suggestion I read Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail. I am uneasy about his religious bent as I was brought up as a strict atheist, however in the context of America and especially the South its more than appropriate. It would seem very "happy-clappy" in Australia. That aside, he certainly could write a great letter.