MLK Day Reflections

This was initially penned as a stream of consciousness in 2020 after reading Dr, Martin Luther Kings Letter from a Birmingham Jail on the eve of the day we celebrate his life, legacy, and teachings. This was posted initially in 2020 and remains a powerful reflection of my life and thoughts.

As I sit here on the eve of the day that we celebrate Dr. Kings birthday, I am deep in reflection after reading Dr. Kings powerful Letter from a Birmingham Jail...not my first reading and like every reading, it leaves me very emotional and struggling to understand my feelings. The letter was written in response to Clergymen criticizing Dr, Kings aggressive, but decidedly non-violent activism. The letter was written in April 1963 when I was about the age our twins are today. The famous "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered just a few months later, in August 1963. Pretty much any part of the written or recorded archive of Dr. Kings work leaves me dealing with a sea of feelings. I am certainly not an activist and certainly, no beacon of morality - I'm sure I've been guilty of pretty much every implicit and explicit bias there is...yet, Martin Luther King Day is perhaps the holiday that is most emotional for me - and I am not 100% sure why, but I am pretty sure my emotions have become more pronounced in the polarized climate of the day. I grew up in New York City in the midst of an amazingly diverse mix of races and cultures. Lord knows, we had our ethnic and racial cliques with their biases and prejudices, but every day, we also interacted in school and in sports and often in play - it was our norm; I do vividly remember one day a friend of mine, John Wallace, and I were horsing around in the hallway of his apartment and a lady yelled out "Hey Darkie, get out of here". I was mystified as I was doing whatever he was doing and I had never heard that term used in that way in my life...It has stuck with me for 50+ years....We were similar in lots of ways, but we were not seen as the same...he carried a burden I did not carry and one I could never fully understand. BTW - derogatory terms for different groups were pretty common and I won't repeat them here, but suffice to say, NYC was certainly not a melting pot utopia. N-words, S-words, G-words, W-words, M-words, and lots of others were used every day....That said, it was also amazing to have the opportunity to engage with folks culturally, ethnically, and racially different from you on a daily basis. It was not until I joined the Navy and went to boot camp that I began to understood that my norm was not the norm in other parts of the country. It shocked me to see how some black guys and white guys from the deep south interacted...It was something I had not seen before and it was both disturbing and enlightening - this was 11 years removed from the Birmingham Jail, but maybe, we were not that far removed at all...Maybe it was all on the surface...today, many years later, things continue below the surface that are rarely ever addressed...at said, this is all very personal to me as I know it is for many; I have a very diverse family with an amazing Black wife; a mix of Black, White, and bi-racial kids; and family and friends that hit about everything on the spectrum. We are blessed that our kids have grown up in a time and place where diversity is a norm...Of course, as my wife would say - Don't get it twisted, Bowie is not America or the world (her version would likely be much more colorful). Cutting to it, I think that racial equity and equality may well be the defining issues of our time- they are issues that cannot be legislated away or waited out. I think in order to really address all of the other equality and equity issues facing us, we need to confront racial equality by expanding intelligent, compassionate, transparent, frank, and open discovery and dialogue. I'm very hopeful that we are moving forward. It's happening...it's certainly happening on LinkedIn and in other venues; Its happening in workplaces of some of the most visible and successful companies; At my core, I believe in the goodness of people...People of all races, religions, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. I believe in the friends and colleagues I have who represent many phases of my life and who span widely divergent political beliefs and are amazing and supportive people...I believe that people want this dialogue and want it outside of our political echo-chambers. We can all do better and I know we all want to do better. This was certainly my most personal article ever posted on LinkedIn...please do take some time to read the Letter from a Birmingham Jail today and/or other writings of Dr, King. It is important context for where we've been, where we are, and hopefully, where we are going.