DEBORAH CROMBIE: It seems very fitting that our celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. falls just before the inauguration of our 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, and our Vice-President Elect, Kamala Harris. Don't you wonder what Dr. King would have thought about the first Black woman elected to this office? I'm quite sure he'd have been proud. And I'm also quite sure he'd have told us that we still have a long way to go to reach the vision he held for this country.
I was a young teenager when Dr. King was assassinated, and I don't remember his death ever even being discussed in our house--and of course there was no access to news other than what was on the nightly broadcasts. That my parents didn't express outrage strikes me now as a terrible thing. And I am horrified that I was so un-engaged and uniformed. It certainly wouldn't be true of most teenagers today. But Dr. King's words and his legacy have grown larger and so much more meaningful to me over the years. I hope I appreciate now just how exceptional he was, and how much his message inspired--and continues to inspire--people all over the world. And I am shocked now, to think how young he was, and to wonder what he might have done is his life hadn't been cut so tragically short.
I cannot listen to James Taylor's SHED A LITTLE LIGHT without tears. (Rick and I were lucky enough to see JT perform this live a couple of years ago. It was sublime.)
Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women living on the Earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world
Become a place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together by the task
That stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound, and we are bound
There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps
The heart will never rest
REDS, what words from Dr. King will you carry with you into this historic week?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, no quotes, but persistence, determination, bravery, courage, love. It is the perfect time for this day, isn’t it? We could not need it more.
RHYS BOWEN: He would have been so proud of Kamala! But it depresses me that we haven’t come very far, have we. Last week’s act of terror is eerily reminiscent of those howling mobs and snarling dogs of the fifties and sixties. The only hope is that most young people are tolerant and anti- racist. They expect to have friends of all races ( and most of us feel that way too)
LUCY BURDETTE: Oh I agree Rhys--the crowd storming the capital scares me to death for our country. This year of Black Lives Matter events gave me some hope. I participated in a book group to study STAMPED. It was hard work and difficult reading but I did think the country was moving in the right direction. Now I see just how hard the path will be. But for sure, MLK would not have allowed us to get discouraged...
HALLIE EPHRON: Terms like dignity and speaking truth to power come to mind when I think of Dr. King. And his voice echoes in my head. In 1968 I was at Columbia. Very aware of what was going on but not quite believing… dreams dashed. Like now, I’m afraid.
JENN McKINLAY: “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what’s important.” -- MLK, Jr.
This one has sat with me for a while now. To me, it is a call to action to make my own life and the lives of those around me better because you simply don’t know how long you’re going to be here.
And so, the fight continues for equality, justice, and freedom -- for everyone. While it’s amazing that Kamala Harris is our first VP of color - and a woman! - the fact that it’s 2021 is inexcusable. This is fifty years later than it should have been. Frankly, had I been out of pig tails, Shirley Chisholm would have had my vote in 1972. Fun fact: her epitaph reads, “Unbought and Unbossed” which was her campaign slogan from 1968 on. We didn’t deserve her.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: “We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.” This quote has been on my mind in a year when we have millions of people who have been thrown out of work, lines wrapping around the block at food pantries - and a record high stock market. The "K" shaped recovery is a lesson to all of us - if we hadn't gotten the message before - that there can be no equality of education and opportunity in a system that privitizes profit and socializes loss. The pandemic has thrown all the fault lines of our society into sharp relief (something Dr. King did in his writings and speeches) and offers us a rare chance to reset to something better going forward - if we dare to dream.
DEBS: Readers, what are your thoughts today?
