As most of us know, the third Monday of each January is the
day that is meant to honor and reflect upon the legacy of the great Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. His life and teachings have provided us with a blueprint on tolerance, love
and finding courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Being the proud
father of two biracial children, I am especially grateful to Dr. King and the
others who fought for our basic right to freely live and love. And as such, I’ve always felt a particular
obligation to ensure my kids will be educated about the Civil Rights Era, so
they can understand just how far we’ve come.
So the other day I sat my 5 year old down in order to discuss
just that.
Me: Do you know why we
celebrate MLK day?
Son: He brought all of the White people and Black
people together.
Me: That’s right! It’s because of him that I was
able to marry mommy. Without people like Dr. King and all of the other people during
that time who realized that it wasn’t right to keep people apart like that, I probably
would have married a Black woman and mommy probably would’ve had to marry a
White man.
Son: Okay, so that just means I wouldn’t be tan
anymore, right?
Me: Actually, it means that you wouldn’t have
been born at all because you grew in mommy’s belly and I helped make you. If that doesn’t happen, then you wouldn’t exist.
Son: (pauses in
thought) Huh? How did you help make me if I grew in mommy’s belly?
Me: Well, when a man
and a woman love each other very much, they, uh, come together and sometimes
God puts a baby is put into the woman’s belly.
Son: But HOW?? It doesn’t
make sense.
Me: ...You’ll understand
when you’re older.
After some persuading, he was eventually satisfied with our
conversation and (thankfully) I narrowly averted giving him the “Birds and the Bees”
speech to my son about 10 years too early. The important mission however, has
been accomplished. He understands that Martin Luther King is more than just an
extra day off of school. It’s a day to think about those who came before us
with dreams so precious, they were willing to lay down their
lives in order to make them a reality.
