My birthday this year was especially cool because after searching (and complaining about it) for at least 10 years... this year, "Henry V" was among my gifts (way to go Ruthie!)! What a fantastic film! This movie has it all... war, romance, intrigue, treachery, honor and a great musical score! Gotta love it!
But for me the main reason i look forward to this month is not just because of my birthday but because of who i share a birthday with...
It was this man who for me, from a very early age has been and continues to be a hero. i can remember when my mother told me that i was going to give a speech about him at church (Notice: my mom didn't ask me if i wanted to.... she simply informed me that it was going to happen!) .... True Vine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church. i didn't really mind the subject matter but wasn't too thrilled about the speech part! The fact is, that event is one of my earliest memories of standing in front of people and trying to share something that i thought they should know about!
At no more than eight or nine years old, i believe i pretty much mumbled my way through his story. It was a story that i thought people probably already knew about but perhaps they didn't....
Born in January 1929, this man grew up in the home of a preacher to ultimately become a preacher himself. Because he skipped both the ninth and twelfth grades he entered college at 15 years old! After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1948 he continued his education, ultimately earning his doctorate degree at the age of 26 years old. But even with all of his brilliance, this man lived in a nation and at a time when people like him were mistreated, denied basic human rights... to the point of being killed simply because of their skin color. His place in history was secured when he helped to lead a boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The successful 381 day boycott of a bus service that forced people of color to give up their seats and move to the back of the bus for Whites catapulted him to national prominence... this drum major for justice and righteousness challenged the consciousness of our nation in a way that probably no one has since his death from an assassin's bullet in April 1968.
i have always
been proud to say that i share a birthday with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.i am a beneficiary of his and many, many other's efforts to make his dream of a nation that judges people not on the basis of their skin color but rather on the content of their character.... become a reality.
It his legacy that i remember every single January 15th... a legacy that makes it possible for men and women who look a lot like me to secure the unalienable rights of our citizenship here in the United States of America.
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