Reflections on MLK and How He Connected Racism to War, Poverty, and The Violence of Government Policy

I know one thing, and that is that in a lifetime we rarely experience leaders this golden, courageous, and infused with Godly wisdom. Dr. King is more relevant today than ever.

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

Martin Luther King, Jr., about whom much has been written, and will be written, was one of the shining lights in my childhood and he continues to inspire me to action.

I was born into a world at war and it seems that I will die in one still at war. I’ve been witnessing the degradation and murder of people for as long as I can remember. These people were Asian, Black, white, brown, Indigenous, you understand, all the colors of the skin rainbow.

My first memory as a child seeing the race war in our country was a violent broadcast on the evening news. White policemen with German Shepherds and hoses attacked Black men as the men protested for their right to vote, in the country of their birth.

I knew instinctively who the bad guys were. And it wasn’t the Black men being brutalized. I talked about it at the dinner table, to which my older sisters squawked, “It’s none of your business. Eat your dinner.”