“Martin Luther King aint payin’my bills,” said a buddy of mine as he informed me of his intention to go towork on the slain leaders’ national holiday. Just like a negro, I thought.
What if Dr. King would havetaken that attitude and told black people “I can’t march with ya’ll ’cause Igot bills to pay.” What would life be like today if MLK would’ve chosen to livea comfortable life, preaching in a comfortable church building selling dreamsfor a living to his congregation from Sunday to Sunday turning his back on thestruggle?
Imagine still drinking water from “colored only” fountains.Imagine still being referred to as “colored.” Imagine riding in the back of thebus because you have to and not by choice, or having to get up and stand if awhite person demanded your seat.
Think about what it would belike if you couldn’t buy groceries from the same store as white people or howyou would feel if you had to sit in the balcony at the movies away from thewhite folks.
Imagine how it would feel to beknocked off of your feet as police officers blasted you with water from a firehose as you walked down the street, or imagine those same officers turningloose their mangy K-9s on you and your friends today in 2005.
Then take a moment to reflect on the life and legacy of Dr.King and all that he was to our people and everything he epitomized.
At a young age, he was a studentof peace. He was a symbol of not only nonviolence, but also black pride. He wasa champion over ignorance, a living message encased inside a fleshly vessel.Because of his life’s work, all black people today can hold their heads up alittle higher.
At a time when it was dangerousfor black people to oppose the status quo, he galvanized the minds, hearts andfeet of an entire people and told society “Freedom is our birthright and notyours to give us or take from us.” For that, now he belongs to the ages. Whenone is destined for greatness, the assassin’s bullet is only the knob on thedoor of immortality.
Look at your life in comparison to that. Ask yourself what itis you stand for or if you have found something worth dying for. A lot of usdon’t stand for anything today. All some of us do is go to school to get a goodjob so we can go to work and pay our bills. Most of us can’t wait to graduatefrom college to join the work force to become a workhorse, all the whileforsaking our dreams to build somebody else’s dream.
If that’s our only goal, thenegro still is not free. As long as we remain slaves to these companies,corporations and the bill collector, the negro will never be. The struggle for mental freedom islarger than any individual life, but an individual life can largely impact thestruggle.
