Photo Friday: Freedom Plaza
 Mural outside of The King Center in Atlanta, GA |
Today is the start of a holiday weekend in the US — We're honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. For those who do not know, Dr. King was a leader of the US Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's before he was assassinated in 1968. He was from Atlanta, GA, where I happen to be visiting. So I'd like to share photos from a visit to the King Center and surrounding landmarks for Photo Friday.
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She was referring to the fact that the King family was well-off compared to most in their community in the segregated south. And I presume she meant that Dr. King was likely comfortable enough not to bother stirring the pot for the benefit of poor sharecroppers and maids.
I disagree.
That's what I thought when I heard her comment, though I didn't butt-in to say so. These women appeared to be old enough to remember life under Jim Crow laws, so it seemed disrespectful to engage.
But the comment stuck with me.
What difference did it make what kind of house he lived in, when it was still on the wrong side of the tracks? His family was still subjected to the humiliation of segregation. They still had to attend inferior schools, were disinfranchised at the polls, and had to sit in the back of the bus. Dr. King's speeches about Civil Rights were about morality, not money.
I was born after the Civil Rights Act. I've never seen separate drinking founatains or rear restaurant entrances, and Brown v Board of Education was years before I started school. From my perspective on this side of history, segregation is so obviously wrong. It's so obvious, in fact, that it's hard to understand that good people lived under a bad system without ever challenging convention.
Maybe they had a few pennies, so they didn't have to think about stirring the pot.
It's just the way things were.
It makes me wonder. What things just are the way they are now that will be appalling from the perspective of history? Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King isn't just about remembering the past. It's about respecting the ideals that he stood for.
Final resting place of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife Coretta Scott King
Reflecting pool along the "Freedom Walkway" — King Memorial, Atlanta, GA
Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Reverend King grew up and preached - Atlanta, GA
Posted by TheWordWire at 1/15/2010 3:59 AM 
Categories: Timeshifted Perspective, Photo Friday, Southern Comfort, Observing Holidays
Categories: Timeshifted Perspective, Photo Friday, Southern Comfort, Observing Holidays
We saw the National Civil Rights Museum, and the place where MLK was shot in Memphis, TN a few years ago. Interesting to see these places that you hear so much about...and interesting to ponder how today is different because of what happened then.
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I think we all fall into complacency and fail to recognize when things really need to be changed. Stirring the pot is such an uncomfortable thing to do. We're lucky to have groups that aren't afraid to ask tough questions and challenge bad laws. Our grandkids are going to interview us about the way we live and be shocked by some of the "controversies" we're living through today.
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