April 4, 1968 is a date that will long be etched in my memory. I was only 8 years old at the time and was at home in a body cast healing from major surgery, which left me with a hip issue for life. I had just eaten dinner and the news interrupted the regular program–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot! It felt like someone stuck a knife in my own heart. My family stopped its regular activities and the wind appeared to be sucked out of our sails! Later the word came that this great man had died!
As an adult, I have had many years to reflect on the enormous contributions of Dr. King. Thanks to modern technology, I have listened to his speeches and been encouraged even today to continue fighting for justice and equality regardless of who is in power. Now, more than ever before, as racism continues to rear its ugly head as it did in Charlottesville last summer, I still believe that love trumps hate! I will continue to live the legacy left by my loved ones who were part of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. King. As I stood behind the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church last March where many Civil Rights leaders, including Dr. King had stood, I felt more empowered than ever before to keep the dream alive! Standing in the spot where the little girls were murdered in 1963, gave me a renewed strength! Walking through Freedom Park and seeing the 3 pastors kneeling to pray, changed my life and world view! Being in the kitchen of the parsonage where Dr. King received the epiphany at midnight, to keep doing the work of equality…renewed within me to be the change I desire to see until justice rolls down like mighty streams!
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