From Tony's Desk: There's Room on The Bus for All of Us

Sometimes events that don't make history in themselves end up changing the course of history for generations.?

This month I'm thinking about one of those events that took place way back in 1944, the last full year of World War II. It happened one night on a bus rolling across the state of Georgia.?

The bus had very few passengers, but they included two Black teenage boys heading home to Atlanta from an oratory contest in Dublin, Georgia. The hour was late and the bus almost empty, so the white driver didn't bother to enforce the segregated seating regulations of the time. He didn't say anything when the two Black high school kids took seats towards the front, while their teacher moved to the rear.?

Two Kids Take a Stand

?When the bus pulled into the city of Macon, though, the racial dynamics suddenly changed. A surge of white passengers came aboard and seats become scarce. The driver ordered the two students to get up and give their seats to white people. When the two kids politely refused, things turned ugly.?

The driver stomped down the aisle of the bus, let loose a string of racial epithets and demanded that the two teens get up.?

One of them is a 15-year-old minister's son. Ironically, at the oratory contest a few hours earlier he had delivered a speech on Equal Rights. His speech didn't win. But he and his friend were determined to win the test of wills with the bus driver.?

The tense stalemate ended only when the boys' teacher, a Black woman, pleaded with them to get up for their own safety. Reluctantly they agreed and moved to the back of the bus, which was now filled up with white passengers.?

So the three of them were forced to stand in the aisle for the 90-mile trip to Atlanta, watching strangers sitting in the seats they had been evicted from, feeling humiliated and helpless. It was the 15-year-old boy's first head-on collision with institutionalized racism. And it was the beginning of his resolve to spend his life working? for social justice.?

A Great Life Inspired?

As you've probably gathered by now, that young man's name was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Call it poetic justice that a decade later as a young Baptist minister he would lead the? now famous Montgomery bus boycott that began when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. And metaphorically speaking, the history he went on to make delivered the message that there's room on the bus for all of us.?

That's a message worth remembering as we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2024. The big bus we know as American society is even more diverse today than it was during Dr. King's life. And no one should be forced to stand in the aisle because of their race, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.?

Everyone deserves the freedom to be who they are and the opportunity to make a full contribution whether it's in a community or corporation. I feel grateful to be part of a company working for that kind of belonging. And thankful for the inspiration Dr. King's life still provides today.?

I'm sure he would agree that when it comes to building a strong equitable society, we're all in this together.?

Be Well and Live Better,

tony