A Reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It's not a secret.  I'm a white male.  I grew up in an area where racial and cultural diversity just didn't exist.  I never had a serious conversation with a black person until I was in high school and worked at a summer camp.  I wasn't avoiding blacks or any other races...Diversity simply did not exist where I lived.

I went to college.  There I encountered various races, but as is human nature, we tend to gravitate towards those with whom we have something in common.  All of my friends in college were white.  I talked to other races, but I wouldn't say any were close friends.  Even though diversity did exist in this college, it was still only in isolated pockets.

In the part of Pennsylvania where I spent my first 22 years, diversity was a non-issue.  It just didn't exist.  To be diverse meant (to me back then) that I had friends from different social crowds.  Different genders.  Different sexual orientations.  Race was really a non-issue.  I didn't avoid it.  It just didn't exist.  In the small cases where there was racial diversity, it was really treated as a non-issue.  All of our cultures, though few in number, melded into one culture.

I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a young age.  Probably in elementary school.  We were taught racism is wrong, but we never had to deal with it.  Quickly, I began to like the image I had of Dr. King.  Non-violent, God loving, Stood up for others at his own risk.

(Background info:  Even before I declared myself a pacifist, I was one.  I was not violent.  People said I was a wimp.  I just believed it was wrong to hurt someone despite what they did to me.  I also believed in God from a very early age.  Of course as a 5 year old, my belief was very naive, but the seeds where there.  I was also one who befriended the ones that others didn't like.  If I didn't befriend them, I would at least be nice to them...but this isn't about me).

It wasn't until around 2001 that Dr. King became real to me as opposed to being a mythical figure.  In 2001, this small town white boy, all of 23 years old, began to teach in urban Dayton, OH where I was the minority.  It was a culture shock.  A HUGE culture shock!  At first, I just tried to survive.  Then, my entire life changed.

These "poor," "gang member," "abused," "angry," students became people to me.  I finally had a breakthrough in what Dr. King said - paraphrasing him - that all races should be able to exist together.

Instead of "saving" these kids, I realized I was called to befriend them. To show them that people do care.  That violence can be overcome by love.

I failed a lot and succeeded much less.  I lost kids to the street.  I lost kids to jail.  I lost kids to unmentionable demons.

But, from them, I learned more than they could ever learn from me.  They accepted me.  Not because I was white...not because they had to...but because in my classroom, race was an issue that was ok to talk about.  I got many questions such as "Why do white people....(fill in the blank)."  We laughed together.  We sang together (I taught music).  We argued. We talked about what it was like to be who we are.

Dr. King is one of the most influential people who allowed my story to be lived.  Because he struggled, I could interact and befriend other races.  Because of his life, my life is better.  Though he died years before I was born, he has impacted my life.

He made me more free because he made my brothers and sisters free.

He broke down many of my walls because he broke down the walls of oppression of my brothers and sisters.

Some say a white male has nothing to say about these issues.  They may be right.  Maybe I'm speaking out of turn.  Maybe I should be silent.  Maybe I should just praise what Dr. King did for other races.  But, I cannot be silent, I cannot stop from speaking, and I owe it to his legacy to praise what he also did for me.

Because Dr. King lived and struggled, I have friends...close friends...that only 40 or so years ago would have been taboo.  Because Dr. King lived and struggled, I taught over 1,000 precious children of all races.  Because Dr. King lived and struggled, my life is better for having known people of other races - whether we became close friends or even a 1 time meeting.

Of course, others can say Dr. King made their lives better much more than I can.  Others can use the same water fountain that I use because of him.  Others can go to the same places I can because of him.  These were never issues for me...but whatever hurts our brother or sister also hurts us.

Thanks to Dr. King, I have a larger family.