Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
“I may not get there with you.”
This line from Doctor Martin Luther King’s last speech before his assassination has always given me goosebumps. On this day, April 3, 1968, he must have been aware of the danger he was in. In this speech he talked about having been to the mountaintop and having seen what possibilities existed for overcoming bigotry, poverty and racism. “…we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”, he said.
It is almost 56 years since he gave that speech in support of the sanitation workers in Memphis. They were overworked, underpaid, and two of them had been killed by the trash compactors in the trucks. It was his third visit to the city to support the strike that was designed to call attention to the dangerous working conditions of this group.
The other prophetic words of his speech are equally as intense. After he said them, his friend Ralph Abernathy noticed tears in Dr. King’s eyes as he sat down. These are his last words: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life – longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will…and so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything: I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
Over half a century has passed since he made the “Mountaintop Speech”. For the last three years I have been involved in group discussions about the racial injustices that still predominate life in these United States. I wonder what Dr. King would think if he came back to 2024. I think he would find that, while there is more dialogue about racial injustice, it is still with us. We are freer to talk about white supremacy, and to identify the groups that practice this deeply rooted way of life. We have new words to talk about “microaggressions” that are still committed against people of color. Books have been written about racism, and I am fortunate to have been able to read five of them and learn about my own hidden biases.
I suppose conservative pundits would scornfully call me “a woke libtard”. I am proud to answer to that moniker, and quick to admit that I still have a long way to go to become an ally. On this Doctor Martin Luther King day I commit to continue this evolution.