Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky,
Free at last!
They took your life, they could not take your pride!
In the name of love, one more in the name of love...
Excerpt from U2 song, "Pride (In The Name Of Love")
Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of pride and conscience. He was the voice of dissent regarding the Vietnam War and the racism that choked this nation. As a young girl (about 8 or 9,) I remember watching his "I have a dream" speech and telling my mother that I liked that man, to which she replied, " So do I." To me he was brave, and truly cared for all people regardless of the color of their skin.
Growing up in a city where racism was present it was a hard thing for me to understand, and I was ridiculed myself for having friends who were black. However, that didn't stop me from having friends of all colors and backgrounds, because I don't measure people by the color of their skin but by the goodness of their heart.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a voice of sanity and reason in a time of madness, and as a young girl, I even wondered if he would eventually run for President. Yes, I know, how naive young children who don't live in the world of hate and who truly believe in the principles of equality are...
The link to his Vietnam speech is enclosed here with a media player version of it so you can hear him speak. This speech was delivered one year to the day of his murder.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm
Men like him who stand up for humanity are surely rare these days, and we could use a man like Reverend King today. As you listen to this speech, just substitute Iraq for Vietnam and you will also see that not much has changed since then, which is truly the saddest part of it all. I never thought my child would have to live in a world where intolerance, injustice, and inequality were still the norm.
Rest in peace, Dr. King.
Your legacy lives forever.