Happy MLK, Jr. Day

I was looking at some old photos from the Civil Rights Movement online and I thought the reminder of where we came from was very interesting.

Dr. King gave a eulogy at the funeral of 4 young girls who were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth St. Baptist Church in which he said the girls were "the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity" (see photo). He had a wonderful way of expressing himself. People don't seem to talk like that anymore.

While viewing the photos and reading about their work, I'm struck by his dignity and by the impeccably high standards that Dr. King and his peers had for themselves. I wonder what Dr. King would have said if he lived to see today's world, where gangsters are the role models for every suburban teenager and the crusade for freedom and human dignity seems to have faded into a memory. I think Dr. King would be dismayed by the incarceration rate of African American men in America and the issues that African American leaders like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson choose to speak about.

Regardless, there is no question that we're all better-off for the changes Dr. King advocated. We can all travel freely and stay in hotels and eat at restaurants. Our kids sit next to each other in school. The number of African American CEO's is growing and includes companies like American Express, KMart, Time Warner, and Merrill Lynch. And the first serious African-American candidate for President of the United States is working hard in South Carolina today.