‘What Is Prejudice?’ ‘Um, I Think It’s When Somebody’s Sick’ (Remembering MLK)

Today we mark the assassination of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. I was in fifth grade on April 4, 1968 but by then old enough to somewhat understand what was going on in my small town and the country. We were at war and I knew people who had served in or were serving in Vietnam. Including some who had died there. I was aware of the protests, with a major university in a town only six miles from my own being the scene of some major ones. And I was aware of racial strife. (That’s a story in and of itself).

The year wasn’t going well. In fact things were bad and getting worse. But that day started off with a triumph. The tragedy of the death of the crew of Apollo 1 a little over a year before had cast a pall over our effort to get to the moon. And with the enormous costs some, especially in Congress said it simply couldn’t be done and wanted to shut the whole thing down. But tests of the Saturn V went forward, and on this date in history a final test of the great rocket, complete with a (inoperative) lunar lander was set to take place. At seven a.m. Apollo 6 rose from the launch pad and into space, beginning a mission that would clear the way for a manned launch later in the year. For a few hours, there was some feeling that maybe we had turned a corner. That we could do something positive. Something big.

Despite an unpopular war still raging in Vietnam and immense unrest in the streets here at home for a few hours we could feel some pride as we looked at something positive. But later in the day a shot rang out in Memphis and a man who’d dedicated his life to promoting change, towards equality and justice for all via non-violent protest was struck down by an assassin’s bullet. Martin Luther King Jr. who had shown up in Memphis to support sanitation worker’s efforts to obtain fair pay and working conditions was dead. In a country dealing with a large scale war overseas and simmering racial strife here at home that too often still boiled over fear was palatable.

Then, a Presidential candidate, a man who offered so much promise and more importantly hope to so many ignored advice from advisors and even law enforcement and took the stage in Indianapolis. It was a truly dangerous thing for him to do. Bobby Kennedy wasn’t the gifted orator his older brother John, JFK was but that night his words, and his delivery were exactly what was needed. Yes, there would be tremendous fallout to Dr. King’s murder but RFK (the real one – not the piece of sh*t son who currently dishonors his name and legacy) reminded us all of the life and legacy of a now revered civil rights leader. It’s worth remembering what RFK said that night about King. What he stood for. And would I believe led us much closer towards:

I’m an old man now, but it feels like forces in this country led by a vile and despicable man who has developed a cult of tens of millions want to drag us back to the country as it was when I grew up. One where my fellow white, middle class/working class and poor people were threatened by the belief that equality of opportunity for all was a bad thing. A time where violence to keep things in a “perfect” world as depicted in TV shows like Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver that never really existed was the way of things.  All kinds of wild rhetoric was thrown about and from some leaders from the local to the national level. It created more than a little violence.

Now we once again see hatred, prejudice and outright fear being stoked. Only now we are in the so-called information age. Back then there was the broadcast networks and the nightly news and newspapers. And magazines with large color pictures and a bit more analysis. Today we have 24 hour news networks, along with the internet and social media to amplify the hate and division, and people  using them with great and tragic effect.

So today, remembering the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. I’m flashing back to a song from back in my youth which would get turned into a music video. (several versions in fact) And that haunting question and answer – (Adult) “What is prejudice? (Child) “I think it’s when someone is sick.”  Call me hopelessly idealistic, but a part of me does hope that various version of this will wind up going viral on social media today. And in the days, weeks and months ahead. We thought we’d come so far. And we did I believe make some progress but it’s been far more tenuous than we’d thought.

This nation needs more than just having its conscience stung. It needs to be taken out behind the woodshed for an old-fashioned spanking. Children aren’t born filled with hatred and prejudice. It gets taught to them. Even today, if you find a child who hasn’t had adults set to work on them if you asked the same questions the guy in this video asks, you’d get the same responses. Sometimes a child that knows nothing IS actually the best teacher:

What Ted Kennedy said during the eulogy to his brother Bobby applies every bit as much to MLK:

“He should be remembered simply as a good and decent man; Who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him, and take him to his rest today pray that what he was, and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world.”

Some say when something good is happening somewhere someone is doing something bad to try and stop it. There’s truth to that, but there’s also truth in the fact that when bad seems to be winning, good people are hard at work trying to stop THAT. A racist P.O.S. struck down Martin Luther King with a bullet from a rifle. What his bullet could not kill was King’s dream. Others carried on. And still are doing so. Our job is to help advance that dream. Because we have a large movement supported by an entire major political Party led by a madman who want to make bad prevail.  We have to stop him/them from winning. To make good triumph in the end.