Jack & Jill Politics

The bloggers here at Jack and Jill Politics didn’t choose to write anything formally about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But, I believe we would be remiss if we didn’t just offer our readers the opportunity to drop their thoughts and feelings on what Dr. King meant to them.

Dr. King died before I was born, so my viewpoint of him is always in historical context. I didn’t get to know the real, complex Dr. King until I took a course in college on the writings of Dr. King. I was stunned by their depth. How this man was touched by powers beyond our grasp. He was a gift to Black America, then America, and finally the world.

I have written before that I believe Black Americans are the ‘truest’ Americans, because we’re the only populace in this country that has FOUGHT FOR America – not just in terms of putting on the uniform, picking up a gun and fighting in its wars – we’ve done that, going back to the Revolutionary War.

No, we’ve FOUGHT FOR America to live up to its creed. To live up to its promise –IN ACTUALITY – and nobody is a better example of this than Dr. King. While his fight could be described as one ‘ for the Negro’, in fact, Dr. King was trying to save America itself.

With the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, Dr. King achieved – legally – full citizenship for Black America. And, it only took nearly 200 years from the first gunshot fired in 1776.

But, he also understood the ECONOMIC component of all of this, and reading that about him made my esteem for him grow leaps and bounds, for that was the next step for him before he died.

He was 39 when he shot down at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, leaving a wife and four small children.

39.

For me, I would like to thank him for the opportunities in life that I admit, I arrogantly usually don’t think about twice. To say that I appreciate what he did, well, appreciate is such an inadequate word.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968