I am listening to the famous "I have a dream" speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. and it still evokes in me the same emotions that it did back in the 1960's.
Even though I was only 13 when I heard King speak, his passion and spirit cut through to my heart. It called to me--to an as-yet-undiscovered place in my soul.
The Kansas town that I grew up in was small--only around 1,000 people. We had no diversity to speak of--no blacks, no Asians. There were two Mexican-American families. Diversity to us was in churches--the Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, etc. There were only a few Catholics and no Jews. We were about as white bread as you could get.
I had no understanding of what the African-Americans faced in the cities other than what I saw on television and that seemed so foreign--like another planet.
Why were these people being treated differently just because of the color of their skin? I wondered. I thought it was hypocritical, seeing as how most of my friends and I would spend hours out in the sun to get darker skin color. What was the difference? Why were these people hated, shunned and forced to sit in the back of the bus?
What I've since come to realize is that fear and ignorance cause prejudice.
When I was in my 20's, I had two-African American roommates. We were different in some ways, yes, but in the most important ways we were the same.
Here is a link to a clip of the famous speech given my Mr. King. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
I hope that you'll take some time to listen to it. My hope is that we as humans can live together in peace and harmony, regardless of our race, religion, political beliefs, or sexual orientation; that we will be "free at last" from all hatred and prejudice.
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