I first became aware of the Civil rights Movement when I heard a TV Reporter ask an elderly black man what he thought of the Civil rights Movement. The man must have been a hundred years old and if he had not been born a slave then his parents surly had been. He looked right at the reporter and said. "Well Sir, I think all those colored folks and them new black folks is going to get everyone of us niggers killed".

How profound, here in the deep south was a man of color who opposed the civil tights movement and as I soon discovered there were many more. Some opposed the movement because it wasn't right for the colored to mix with the whites and others opposed it because they thought justice was to won with the sword and these were not red necks, no, these were black folks speaking out.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a voice of reason, a dreamer of dreams and a man of peace. I admired his courage to stand up both to the whites and the blacks and to demand equal justice for all. This holiday to celebrate his birth, should be honored by both blacks and whites, as he spoke out not for one race or the other, but for justice.

Listen if you can to the words he spoke and see if they do not yet apply today, how far do we have to go, not far, and how long do we have to wait, not long, but that hillside is so high and the promised is yet out of reach.

Martin, thank you for opening the door and showing me the path.

Beautiful words and true, Nathen.

AMEN!

we all need to dream that dream... and help make it true...

Amen!
And thanks for friends along the path who help us go on. <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/peace.gif" width=16 height=16>

Amen. We must keep the dream alive.

Nice post, Nathen. Amen from me, too.

AMEN

*I couldn't much focus on Martin this yr. I heard, for the 'very' first time, the story of Emmett Till. A 14 yr. old black youth from Chicago, and murdered in Money Miss. in 1955? All for whistling at a white woman. I could't beilieve I was hearing this story for the first time. (Being 45 yrs old) The fact that the all male white jury let them off wasn't surprizing. The fact the dudes sold thier confession in Look magizine for $4000.00 flabbergasted me.

**But there is such a thing as double jeopardy.

I woke up the next morning and all I could think of was that Documentary of Emmitt Till. It really haunted me. How in the HELL didn't that make the history books????<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/confused.gif" width=15 height=22>

It made me envy maybe living in another country. The headlines in England. "A Negro's life isn't worth a whistle in Money Miss".

Living in USA. Change is gonna do us good. Wonderful post Nathen. BTW

Killing a black person was not much news in the south, I have post cards of black men hanging from a tree, it reads "One good nigger", I don't know why I never learned to hate the black people, I guess it helps to be weird myself. There were very certain rules of conduct for black people and they were kept in their place. My own aunt nearly died when I came up on her porch with a black friend, to her it was nothing short of shocking and insulting that a black person stepped on her front porch. Justice played it hand for my aunt when her grandchild was born of a black man and she had to look at race with brand new eyes.
The other day the last widow of a man who fought for the Union army died, that leaves us with but one widow left and her husband fought for the South.
How long ago was Jim Crow, not long ago at all, How far have we gotten from hate, not far at all, it is there just below the skin.
Someday, I pray that we will see all our brothers and sisters living in love and harmony, but until that day, I shall burn a candle and keep the dream alive.