Martin Luther King Day
If you idolize Martin Luther King you may not want to read this, because I don't idolize him at all. In all honesty I really don't know anything about him. I do wonder if he was born with that name, if anybody knows for sure let me know. While I may not know anything about him or about being black, I do know about growing up in the town of Joliet Illinois and going to a high school that, if I remember right, had about 49% black students. I also know how I think, and I know how I thought 35 or so years ago. 35 years ago I was not prejudiced against any group of people. Friends were friends and they encompassed all nationalities without regard for race. One of my friends was even Muhammad Ali's sparring partner when he was objecting to the military, and he introduced me to him. After some verbal sparring where he stated I had now been blessed, and I said it was the other way around, he informed me I had an awful big mouth for such a little boy. I left the meeting thinking he wasn't to bad a guy--period. I didn't add something like "for a black", I didn't even think it. As a matter of fact when I think back to pre-civil rights days, I don't remember what race some of my friends were. They were people. I trusted or mistrusted people based on the principles they lived by. Then came the civil rights leaders. Then came the riots, the violence, the polarization and then the hatred. My wake up call came from a group of blacks, one of whom I considered a good friend. After getting out of the emergency room with 40 plus stitches in my head, I asked him why. He said, "you don't understand, you ain't black". What I understand now is that it would very hard for me to trust somebody that was black. There was still a lot of prejudice against black people, but it was fading. The riots changed that for a lot of people, most people won't admit how they feel unless they feel safe it won't come out in the open. To me it was a big step backwards. When black people stop listening to the likes of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton who do nothing but PUSH hatred and get rich doing it, they may find some of us whiteys ain't too bad--period. Ali would probably still think I had a big mouth, and I would still think he ain't to bad a guy, but I would be more conscious of the fact he was black and wish more blacks were like him. He doesn't whine. I don't hate black people, but I'm tired of the whining and the blaming white people for everything wrong with their lives. I grew up in the same environment had some of the same problems and I was poor. I still have obstacles in my path and I'm still poor, but I made the choices I made in life and I don't go around blaming others for my state. We all have choices and we all choose how we think. We all will answer for our own choices, no matter what color we are.
Editor