Last night at bed time, GIRL had a lot of questions. GIRL had been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr in school. In children's chapel at church, they had talked about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. GIRL wanted to know why the words in the African American spiritual, "Oh Freedom," said that before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave. JCK explained, as best she could, about slavery in our country and how all of it led up to the Civil Rights Movement.
Today JCK is deeply grateful for her daughter's school teachers:
"We decided that even if we painted ourselves blue, or if we shaved off all our hair off, we would still be the same people. We tried to see that it doesn't matter what our outside looks like, but that all the qualities that make us a person are the things that we have inside our hearts. We have family inside our hearts. We have love inside our hearts. We have friends, culture, likes, and dislikes."
And, most of all, JCK is grateful that her GIRL asks questions. Even when JCK has a hard time answering them...
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today."
**********************
"I made a Birthday card for Martin Luther King Juniors, Mommy! It was my idea"
Card by GIRL.
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Education as it should be!
ReplyDeleteMore today than way back then people notice & count by race, color, & ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteYou know you're doing something right when they ask those deep sorts of questions. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteI can remember answering my kids' questions. Difficult. To be tasked with the duty to inform innocent children of their friends' painful history. Felt too big for words. Really sad.
ReplyDeletei think that card, and girl, and YOU, would make Dr. King smile on her birthday.
ReplyDelete