Watching the memorials and listening to the speeches this weekend made me wonder where we would be as a country today if there never was a Martin Luther King Jr. Individuals can move mountains. Listen to the song "Abraham, Martin and John". They were men who changed the world but paid a price. As did Mahatma Gandhi and Anwar Sadat. All were cut down, assassinated for what they believed in and the justice they sought. This too includes Bobby Sands and all the Irish hunger strikers who died fighting for freedom in English prisons. Martin Luther King Jr. stood tall and marched and shouted about the racial inequality and in doing so changed America. He was a hero not only to his people, but to all who recognized the injustice being done to African Americans.
We are far from where we were but yet still far from where we need to go. In our homes, in our churches, our workplaces and in our union. We need political leadership and leaders who are willing to compromise and to speak out against the hate that is percolating in America today. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, look around, and see what they see. Denounce the economic and racial injustice in our country fueled by ignorance. Let us teach the children, and pray that they take us to a better place for all Americans.
