Thinking of MLK today is always inspirational. Sad that he was slain, but also truly inspirational thinking of all he did. Today I'm thinking about how MLK inspired my mother to get active in New York State when I was a kid. She got involved, after hearing him speak, with one of the civil rights organizations there fighting for low income housing, desegregation, and better schools for minorities and lower income folks in Buffalo, NY. I mention this because it's how my political activism and consciousness started.
She took me on a march for fair housing and minority rights in downtown Buffalo. I must have been 8 years old. I remember the day vividly, warm weather, dogs, food, smiles, chants, passion, and the quest for justice.
While I grew up in my household, my parents always watched the national nightly news on TV, and politics was avidly discussed at the dinner table. My parents wanted to raise me to be well informed and politically conscious and make intelligent decisions about politics and voting. FDR, JFK, MLK and RFK were revered by my parents.
When I was a teenager, I continued to read newspapers and watch TV news. We followed Watergate and Nixon's downfall avidly and celebrated when he resigned. As a teenager, I served in my high school student council, but more importantly, I got involved with the anti-nuclear movement. A friend was involved and she educated me about the Mobilization for Nuclear Disarmament local chapter. In the 1970's, 'Mobe' as it was known, was for awhile the most prominent action group against nukes. I joined the local group and it was my first education on how to do political activism. The highlight for me had to have been seeing Daniel Ellsberg speak. He really inspired me to further activism on the issue.
Later, when President Carter was embroiled with the Iranian hostage crisis, he reinstituted draft registration. I took it upon myself to create a group against the draft and military involvement in Iran. I met some like minded souls at the local college and we called ourselves the Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives. We were quite active for several years locally, and I was very involved in draft registration counseling, protests, rallies, lobbying our Congresspersons and Senators, letter writing, etc.
Over the years since, I have been involved in many activist groups and Democratic political campaigns. What I learned early on especially in the Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, was how fun politics can be and the sense of community and camaraderie one gets doing it. I think what's special about dailykos is it also is fun and creates community as well as effective activism.
My thoughts on this MLK Day diary are to share my personal experiences and inspirations for political activism. My personal inspirational heroes that I can think of right now are RFK, MLK, Daniel Ellsberg, Judi Bari, Julia Butterfly Hill, Cindy Sheehan and Howard Dean.
I call them inspirational heroes because in each case when I heard them speak or watched their bold actions and how well they conducted themselves for an important cause, they inspired me to either get more active or feel more passionately about the cause. There are also non-famous folks who I've learned from and admired in the groups/campaigns I've been involved with.
Today, on MLK day, I am asking you what or who first inspired your political activism, and who are your inspirational heroes?