Martin Luther King day. The news clips I see show portions of his prophetic 'I have a Dream' speech, and make him out to be a saint. I hate that. Martin was a man who did his work every day, had the respect of his fellow civil-rights workers, and held coalitions of militants together that were impossible for most others. MLK had a dream, but he was also a flawed working man.
That’s important, because most of us know we aren’t saints. But we all can be flawed working people who achieve moments of greatness. We can, all of us, make change by standing for something right. Here is a short video about the fabled civil rights confrontation in Selma, Alabama and towards the end an account of my meeting MLK.
I should note, the government made this a holiday. It could as well have honored many others, like Malcolm X or the Black Panthers. However, they preached self defense. The establishment was much more comfortable with MLK's vision of non-violence.
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Jeffrey Nightbyrd Shero © 2020
Jeffrey Shero was the founding editor of the original Austin Sun.
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