Now that we’re here together, let’s make good on his investment.
Martin Luther King Jr. led a movement that created the possibility for me to meet and get to know you.
Without Martin Luther King, Jr., I would have no knowledge of the fullness of you or even what it feels like to have met your acquaintance. Without the blood, sweat and tears that MLK shed and his repudiation of state-sanctioned terrorism of Black people, our paths would have never crossed in the ways that we have come to know each other. The bread that we have had the good fortune and God’s favor to break together at work and in friendship would have never been tasted.
I think about Martin Luther King Jr often.
His courage to lead and the audacity to believe that we could be better together across the races astounds and emboldens me. Crushed in on all sides, battling stinging injustices externally while fighting internally to simply keep the movement together and moving forward was a monumental task to take on. MLK was an amazing strategist and tactician who knew how to surround himself with strong people who shared his vision and had the backbone to execute it, even in the face of death. Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement is our American legacy.
The shared history of America is part of each of us today.
Our shared history is in my lifeblood. It’s in yours too. It is embedded and flows through us as we live inside this old house of America that’s been passed down to us—in all of its splendor, inequities, fortune, prejudices, opportunities, poverty, wealth and systemic disadvantages.
Martin Luther King Jr stood up for the possibility of unity.
What is true for me now is that I know that unity in ways that matter among Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and people of all ethnic identities is possible. I invite you to stand up and be a part of making America, our old house, better. From the courthouse to Wall Street, in school rooms and work rooms, on Zoom, Teams and in your own home, you can make a difference.
Stand Up. He did. We can.
Martin Luther King Jr and others have toiled and died for us. Let’s make good on their investment in creating unity in significant and meaningful ways. Get to know someone of a different ethnic identity than you and create connection in a genuine way. If you see an inequity, an interaction monopolized by the majority ethnicity in the room or ideas that don’t seem viable when they are shared by a Black, Indigenous Person of Color (BIPOC), stand up. Like MLK, you can be the difference that ripples and cascades for generations to come.
We are better, together.
Tracy
Tracy Carmen-Jones
Partner
ChoicePoints Learning
www.choicepointslearning.com