Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and as every January we honor his memory and the memory of what he accomplished by taking a day off of work. I'm not at all certain that this is what we should be doing to honor his memory. Don't get me wrong. I like my three day weekends. I like having that occasional extra day off to soothe my mind mentally, to get caught up on life's demands, to do errands and chores that weren't taken care of over the weekend. It's just that Dr. King became a martyr to the cause of civil rights for all people. Shouldn't we be doing something to advance the cause of equality for all people? That, after all, is what he devoted his life to, and it is what he died for. Is it really too much to ask that we do something for that cause on one day that is dedicated to his memory?
Dr. King was African-American and his life was driven by the fact that Americans of African ancestry have historically been mistreated, discriminated against, and shoved to the peripheries of society. This is a group of people who, for the most part, arrived in America not by choice, but as chattel. This is a group of people who, when slavery was finally outlawed, were marginalized and kept in poverty and separate from the rest of society. This is a group of people who were victimized by institutional discrimination. This is a group of people who, after some three hundred years of struggles and the martyrdom of countless soldiers in the fight for equality, have finally reached the point where a man or woman of African ancestry can reach the highest echelons of our society, even the Presidency of the United States.
Yet countless African-American citizens still struggle in the throes of poverty, and there are still those who would have you believe that black people are an inferior race. And there are those within the African-American community who would have you believe that all white people are the enemy, that all African-Americans are somehow better in the eyes of God. These are those who promote separatism in the same way that white supremacists promote separatism and hatred. Neither address the realities of a society including some 300 million citizens of all races, ethnicities, religions, sexes, and sexual orientations. We are all in this thing together, and we all have to learn to work together, to respect one another, and to promote unity in order to raise all of us up. Another martyr to the cause, one Abraham Lincoln reminded us that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." Dr. King "had a dream." We all need to embrace that dream.
What we discover when we embrace that dream is that it goes beyond black and white. When we really open an honest dialogue, when we really begin to know each other instead of resorting to stereotypes and exclusionary practices, is that we all have much more in common than we do differences. Further, it takes us to a place where we move beyond black and white differences, and begin to consider male and female differences. It moves us to consider differences between religious views. It moves us to consider differences between people from different nations, who speak different languages. It moves us to consider the differences between heterosexual and homosexual. It moves us to understand that we are all human, all deserving of respect, all doing our level best to make some sense of our life on this planet, and hoping for a good life. We are all one in this. We are all homo sapiens.
All of that being said, I realize that we all are brought up with belief systems instilled in us by parents, family, community, churches, and schools. Some stay with those belief systems their entire lives. Some diverge by choice when they encounter a new thought and have an "Aha!" moment. Some diverge because of the nature of who they are, having no real choice in the matter, as is the case with the many gay acquaintances I've had in my lifetime. Nevertheless, for all the open mindedness in the world, things do not change overnight. Change is incremental. A journey occurs one step at a time.
Today I challenge everyone, myself included, to take one step along this journey to unity. Take a moment from your day and speak to someone who is not like yourself. If you are white, of European ancestry, take a moment to speak with someone who is black, or someone who is Hispanic, or someone who is from Asia. If you are black, take a moment to speak with someone from another racial or ethnic group. If you are devoutly religious, take a moment to speak with someone who believes differently than yourself. If you are mainstream heterosexual and have never spoken with a person who is homosexual, take the time to do so. If you are homosexual and live in an insular gay community, take the time to speak with a straight person. (Breeders are people too.) Take a moment and talk to a homeless person, and maybe give a little assistance. Everyone has a story, and not everyone is just a lazy bum.
Take the time to ask someone about their family, about their life. Take the time to really consider how just one person, not like yourself, may have legitimate concerns. Take the time to consider that we all really want the same things, and a lot of our differences are only happenstance of where we were born, what family we were born to, and simple genetics. When you look beyond the surface, there is a lot to like and love in each of us. And while you're at it, seriously consider giving some aid to the earthquake victims in Haiti.
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