MLK Day 2025

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 this beloved civil rights leader (before it was a holiday) along with a movement that currently had cities bussing kids around, ostensibly to help end racial segregation and in the direction of a more perfect union. 

All of this much to the horror and exodus of good folks everywhere – aided by automotive transportation and self-righteous suburban fervor – whose ‘way of life’ was too precious to allow the racial interplay that had been court-ordered within city limits.

Those of us lucky enough to have undergone such ‘desegregation’ were able to realize among us the good and bad within all strains of humanity.  And stereotypes fall quickly when conversation and hijinks ensue among adolescents, only seeking to get along, obtain their driver’s license & maybe go to college.

Fifty years later, the very gifts these baby boomers received have denigrated into economic & corporate dominion; to paraphrase King, “...time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” (Letter From a Birmingham Jail) 

Today our new president (deja vu) is taking his oath of office, promising that “this country will again flourish” and that every day he will “put America first.”  He has vowed to see Dr. King’s dream to fruition.  Whether this happens before or after a flag is planted on Martian soil is anybody’s guess.

Also of interest is Trump’s admonition to “let no fear or obstacle defeat your pride.” Which kind of makes me, well, proud.

And it certainly looks like Melania is taking her First Lady duties more to heart this time.  Not sure if I’d like to be one of her staffers, that’s for sure – but I’m sensing a Michael Jackson-esque vibe.

Onward & Upward, our great nation is forever arriving at a more perfect union, like it or not.