Honoring the Way of Civil Disobedience

 What makes this day so special to me is not the simple fact of remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but what he stood for. I only have articles, news and video footage to remind me what life was like decades ago. I don't know what it feels like to have to sit in the back of a bus. I hope I never have to be directed to a "Colored Only" venue and denied service because of the beautiful color of my skin. May I never be denied for any reason whatsoever is my prayer.

It all seems like a far off dream when I sit and watch Dr. King footage. Living in a world where, for the most part, I do not have to confront blatant racism (keyword "blatant"...if you know what I mean) and endure the type of unjust treatment others lived through but I do take a moment to seriously wonder what if...

What if men and women like Dr. King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisolm, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Abraham Lincoln, Medgar Evers, Jackie Robinson, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Emmett Till, the four black students who began a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter, Stokely Carmichael, and every marcher to Washington D.C, never rose to the occasion and in their own significant way protested and did their part to help eradicate hate and ignorance? LIFE as I know it would be drastically different.

I say "Thank You!" to those who went before me and pray in my own life, I will also rise to the occasion and do my part to make this world a better place for all men to live in.

His Dream is My Dream also.

Publish Post

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968

Crooked Notes by Idilio Rivera is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.