The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Happy Wednesday.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. Ours was absolutely wonderful. But we were and still are all very much affected and dismayed by the catastrophe in Haiti. Moreover, we are doing what we can by supporting it economically and sending what needed supplies we can.
We will continue to lift all of the Haitian people up. We pray for you Haiti, and all of the men and women that are giving so much of themselves to help.
Moreover, this past weekend, we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther king's birthday. As we know, it is a national holiday. Hooray. But what does it all mean? Who was Dr. King, and what were his philosophies? What were his dreams and aspirations?
About Dr. King:
According to Wiki, "Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches. A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986."
Education
Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. He skipped ninth and twelfth grade, and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school. In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. King then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955, with a dissertation on "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman."
A True Comparative Analysis:
"Bill Cosby, now ranked by blacks as one of the people they admire most, according to the Pew Research survey, has been traveling across the country, visiting black churches and organizations, lacerating poor black parents: "I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit [prison garb]. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is his father?"
"You know how whites used to clutch their purses in the elevator whenever a black teenager stepped in," says Natalie Brown, who works with poor blacks here through the local Urban League. "Now blacks do it, too."(The Wall Street Journal)
Lastly, " Why is the black grad rate so low? Don't make excuses for it like "the government, the racist policy of separate but equal, no money going to the underperforming schools". The US government spends more for education in public schools than in the past why are they failing? Be honest and give your opinion why black students are performing lower than any other group to grad from City public schools. Is it because education is not stressed in the urban black community? Is it because many come from single parent homes with absent parents? Is the call of the street stronger than the call to get an education? Put it all out there... What do YOU think?" (Media Take Out.com)
What would Dr. King think if he were alive?
Have a great day,
L. for Love
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Interesting piece. One of the most interesting developments in our national mindset has been the idea that education equals elitism. Witness how the well-educated G.W. Bush played the good ole boy and was admired by many of his supporters as the kind of "guy you could have a beer with." Among African Americans we seem to have compounded this "dumber is better" attitude with a belief that doing well in school is for nerds, punks, and white folk. Add to this the absence of fathers and the nagging self-doubt (usually presenting itself in hyper-masculinity) that often eats away at children coming from situations where dad never showed up and mom failed to woman-up to level required of all single parents, and you get the staggering drop-out rates that we see year in and year out.
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