Embrace the King

Many of you recall reading The Third Monday in January last year or just a few weeks ago, and this post is a sort of a continuation of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am fully aware of the date celebrated in America is the third Monday in January as a national holiday. We also know that Brother Martin was more than a dreamer – as a complex figure that mainstream media with the help of our schools has reduced to a caricature of a sound bite because our nation is a place of smug albeit incomplete endings. While King kicked down one door after another, what gets forgotten in the grand scheme of things is even the most peaceful among us indeed have forced the issue to be acknowledged, heard, and create an impact for waiting only stirs complacency within those in power. 

We must embrace the King and his legacy beyond a few sentences to appreciate his life’s work.

It is one thing to remember the hopefulness of the “Dream”, yet another to actually live out the legacy by embracing the body of his work – and that body, battered, bruised, and critiqued more than not – gets pushed aside since it does not fall in that neat hero narrative Americans are so accustomed to. If you disagree, check your social media posts from your friends and followers on this day and see for yourselves how shallow people can be in the name of narcissism. We (and I’m equally complicit in this as well) use the third Monday of January as a day of outward service; preparing a parade float; or just a chill day at the house and mall for the sheet sale at Dillards or JC Penney. By that token, embracing the King should mean breaking from comfortable zones to ruffle more than a few feathers in our quest to live on a higher plane. 

Why does it matter? 

 History dictates that the victors get to write the tales that are passed down from one generation to the next even if they are wholly inaccurate. You may recall George Washington chopping down the cherry tree or “Honest Abe” Abraham Lincoln never telling a lie as examples of historians being able to present the terms of how the past is shaped and promoted. In this instance, we have primarily associated King with one speech he gave on a hot August afternoon without studying the complexities of his day – as difficult it is being a black man in this nation today, imagine his plight when he demanded equal rights for African-Americans sixty years ago! Men were lynched for far less if not run out of town by the moonlight for defending what was theirs and Lord knows the brutal insensitivities black women experienced in the Fifties working six days a week for what little more than spare change. Until recently, we have not had the luxury to tell our stories beyond a select few; hero (or heroine) worship is a First World concept promoted by those who can tell them best with ill regard for whitewashing or limiting the truth to only the parts that satisfy us. 

One key matter in embracing the King is acknowledging that the Dream has been deferred if not delayed. If we think for a second that everything is hunky dory, clearly we have spent our lives living under rocks and drinking from the bitter cup that pleases us for a short season only to suffer through an epic hangover for years to come. In 2016, how is it our presidential candidates engage in such divisive demagoguery that seemed to be a relic of 1964? With the attacks on voting rights nationwide and the extensive practice of victim shaming, today is more critical than ever to embrace the man and his ideals. Not silencing the microphone or egging on expulsion and assaults is equal to the snarling dogs and fire hydrant hoses aimed at children during King’s day; watch how people grovel (sometimes even grudgingly) to follow the political crowd saying they how much they loved the man and his ideals when neither their policies nor rhetoric indicate how they embrace King. 

The axolotl (ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) is a biological enigma. Instead of maturing into adult form, this endangered Mexican salamander retains tadpole-like characteristics throughout its life. This animal is used by writers and philosophers alike as a symbol of someone who fears growth. 

Don’t be like the axolotl. Anticipate, grow, and adapt like normal salamanders. 

When we embrace the King, we truly love all people - not just those who look or sound like us, live in the same subdivisions, work for the same employers, attend the same churches, or share likeminded world views on Facebook and Twitter. For at least one day, let’s try it; surely loving our fellow man and woman is not that hard. 

Do I have dreams? You’re damn skippy I do. 

I have a dream that my daughter is able to grow up in a safe environment where she is loved, appreciated, and respected for her expansive world view, vocabulary, future opportunities, and privileges that her parents did not have that long ago without hearing nasty slurs or being relegated to the back of the classroom by virtue of her chocolate skin God blessed her with. That dream also is a two-way street:  I can learn from you but you can also learn from me. It is also how we come to respect and love one another. Besides, children know nothing about racism until their parents introduce it covertly or blatantly to them. As her father, I am embracing King for the complex man he was:  practicing a dangerous kind of selflessness to serve God through all of you daily even if or when I must go it alone. That dangerous selflessness means putting the work above individual accolades, material rewards, and ego.

 Even with the advantages we have, we must never forget the basics of life must be for all people. In conclusion, embracing King means that those less fortunate, speak a thicker dialect of English, love differently or are not as educated and bougie as us are not deserving losers unworthy of our time and attention. You love them equally as your own. Period. 

This is America:  while we are an imperfect people pursuing a perfect idea, let’s make a compassionate effort to embody true love and service not to those we are near but also the man panhandling at the busy intersections of town or the woman who needs a safe space to raise and protect her children from an abusive environment.