LESSONS FROM OUR HISTORY
The roads out of this pandemic require us to be in the service of others, not ourselves.
"The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up."
-Martin Luther King, 3 April 1968, Memphis, TN; his last speech before he was assassinated
We only need to look at our history to see that great moments of change didn't always come from our leaders- they came from each person at the grassroots level, engaging their friends, engaging their neighbors. Sure, it was wanting a better world for themselves, but getting others involved was about wanting a better community to leave our children.
It is tremendously easy to feel demoralized about how our local and state leadership is approaching the coming storm in this pandemic. But whether it was women getting the right to vote, the civil rights movement or the recognition of modern Native American tribal nations, it was elected officials responding to the tides of change for a better community.
Never underestimate the power of grassroots involvement. We have had the chance as a family to explore those key sites of the 1960s civil rights movement, from the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the sites along the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King was assassinated. My kids have visited Monroe Elementary in Topeka where the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case overturned Dred Scott and they have visited Little Rock Central High School that was desegregated following Brown v. Board of Education.
Tell your children about these places. Take them to these places if you can.
But more importantly, role model advocacy for them. Get involved, even it's just convincing a friend to get vaccinated. Or convincing your child's teacher to wear a mask.
The roads out of this pandemic require us to be in the service of others, not ourselves.
Full text of MLK's final speech here: https://speakola.com/ideas/martin-luther-king-jr-ive-been-to-the-mountaintop-1968