Remembering the Legacy of Dr Martin Luther Jr

On the eve of the 40th Anniversary of the death of Civil Rights Leader, Dr Martin Luther King Jr., I find myself wondering if the younger generation truly understands the Legacy of Dr King and all that he stood and fought for. The more I think about it, the more I begin to believe that they don't.

I happened to be born just nineteen days after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and ironically he died on my sister's birthday, so the early years of my life were marked with both celebration and memorials on every April the 4th.

Having grown up in a small predominately black community, there were not too many places you could go without hearing Dr King's name. There was a Street named after him, His face was on murals and as far back as I can think there was always school projects, history reports or public events in his honor. In spite of all of the memorials, programs, events and lessons in school; all of the information about Dr King was head knowledge to me. It was received with no more significance than any of the other patriarchs, matriarchs and civil rights heroes. They were just pages in a book.

I knew they had all supposedly done good things for people like me, for people who had dark skin. However I think it probably didn't hold much meaning because at the time and the place I lived, everyone looked like me. I had not yet come in contact nor had I personally seen or experienced discrimination of any kind. I could actually count the number of white people I knew on one hand and I just that there was something weird going on with their skin.

The white people I knew were all adults, the pastor, a nun and teacher at the Catholic School I attended, and a mechanic who used to help my dad work on his cars, and all four of them were some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. So when the talk of Dr King and His legacy would take place I would take it all in, but it didn't hold deep meaning to me, not until I turned 9 years old.