DEMOCRICIDE

The Death Camps all seem to have happened so very long ago – 80 years! And there are few remaining voices to bear witness, to all the diabolic and precise orders handed down in the name of extermination. I find it remarkable that these last voices remaining were also the youngest to experience the horrors; innocent children who could only ask ‘Why?’ and who navigated, somehow, the imperceptible deluge of small miracles by which they survived and live among us today.

This frozen morning has cleared all the past away, as I gather my wits & coffee, sitting down to voice my thanks and praise for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The first time I can recall seeing Dr. King was in the multipurpose room of Ash Grove Elementary school, perhaps in the fourth grade, circa 1971. Our teacher showed all the fourth-graders a movie reel of Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. We sat on the floor, Indian style. We were gathered, in this manner, to celebrate