Today’s not Martin Luther King Jr Day. But I often find myself thinking about him, and what he stood for, and the inequality that I still see today. Well, not inequality per se. Let’s call a spade a spade. Flat out racism. Ugly, dysfunctional, horrid racism. With the most vulgar of words and phrases directed at a very specific group of people, for no other reason than that the perpetrator is of one race and the words are directed at those of another.

I cannot believe the things I see and hear today.

Thanks to Facebook.

Well, I say that sarcastically, but the truth is, I should be thanking fb for opening my eyes to how prevalent it is in modern society. In the city of Cleveland, where I used to live, and I thought was so tolerant and mixed of a city.

I had posted this on my fb on the real MLK Jr Day this year:

I was looking through my old tweets, and found this one. Seems pertinent to the holiday today. With the day off work & school, spend it with your children to talk about race relations. What once was. What *you* believe it to be today. What your hope for relations in their life. Research the topic. It’s the least you can do for a man who “fought” tirelessly to bring it to light; and you get a day off for it. I’d love to hear your thoughts too, if you care to share….

I just want people to understand. But the only way to understand is if we talk about it, and are willing to listen to others.

Related wonderful link:
Letter from Birmingham Jail – there are many re-prints of this letter, but this one is my favorite.

 

 
Dozens of Cleveland area high school students attended the City Club of Cleveland’s Youth Forum on Jan. 15th to talk about issues of racism, violence, and police brutality in the wake of the shooting death of 12-year old Tamir Rice. The photo above is one of them. If you’d like to see more reactions (pictures and video), go here: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/01/cleveland_students_racism_viol.html#0