The Grahams and MLK

in August

at his famous speech

coming together as one

tryign to stop the segregation

hand in hand

                                                                                             Lelia

One of our challenges as students of history is to understand more deeply how both the world in which we live and the way in which we view that world has been shaped. As our family has taken time to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, I (Christopher) am reminded of this challenge--the challenge to try and understand how certain events and individuals have changed the very way in which a live or think.

Lelia certainly understands that MLK, Jr. is an important historical figure. And she does her best to find out the data that makes him so--she knows about the important words he said, the important goals he had, the important events which he led and attended, the people he met and influenced. But Lelia does not understand the extent to which the world which she enjoys and takes as "normal" is due to the actions of MLK, Jr. and those who worked alongside him.

That last year she represented her class at the school's oratorical contest reciting Maya Angelou's Woman Works is no more significant to her than the fact that she came home in 2nd grade proudly announcing the poem she had selected to memorize: I Am Black. It was Reverend King's commitment to the ideals of justice and righteousness that allows her to appreciate the poetry regardless of the author's race. That all of her BFFs and BFFLs are Hispanic or African American is insignificant to her. This was only a dream for Dr. King. 

                                

Today, I am thankful with and for Lelia--that she can enjoy the world more fully because of the pioneers like Martin Luther King, Jr.