Do YOU remember Medgar Evars? Or Emmit Till?

I hope you do. Because today is a day when we should all remind ourselves of what it means to struggle. The loss, the injustice. Today I am at work. I'm embarrassed to say that. But at least I'm going home soon. I just came up to write and send a letter to the library and the Board of Regents, protesting the fucking bullshit manor in which we have to be at work. When the letter is ready, I'll post it up here. I just want everyone to know that today is very important.

Go here and listen. Don't forget.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm

Here is my letter:

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day which commemorates a man and a legacy that still resides within the people who lived through the Civil Rights Movement. Yesterday, I spoke to a man who said he would be volunteering at his church today, because that is what he was doing 40 years ago. I was almost ashamed to tell him that I would be at work. Today is not a day to be belabored in work, nor is it a day to sleep in and watch the Price Is Right. Today is a day when we should remember good people and their sacrifices, a day every American should hold on to, lest we all forget how important our individual choices are.

Today is not just about celebrating Dr. King’s life, but about reflecting on the entirety of the Civil Rights movement. Beginning in the early 1900’s with the Jim Crow laws and then in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, we as a nation began to grapple not just with the blatant and vigorous racism in the south, but with the illegitimacy of the system of institutionalized racism across the entire country.

Since that time, we’ve certainly come a long way, but not yet long enough. The Movement is not dead, and work continues to be done in the name of equality and tolerance. Recently, Emmit Till’s murder case was reopened, and similar cases are being examined to this day. Last year Corretta Scott King died. Two years ago Rosa Parks died. What are we telling our family, children, friends and the rest of the community by working today instead of commemorating, celebrating, or even discussing why Martin Luther King Jr. is a “national holiday”? What happens when no one remembers? When holidays become nothing but symbolic gestures, stripped of actual meaning and purpose? It is our responsibility to treat this day with the respect it deserves. I am going home because I will not disrespect this day and I think it is contemptible for the library to be one of the few institutions to remain open.

On April 3^rd, Dr. King gave a speech entitled "I've Been to the Mountaintop." I encourage you to visit http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm

and either read or listen to Dr. King’s speech. If you don’t have 45 minutes to listen to one of the greatest speeches in American history, at least spend two minutes reading the end. Dr. King told that congregation in Memphis that he “Like anybody would like to live a long life” and that the “Promised Land” was closer than it had ever been. He said:

“I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”

He knew that the promised land wouldn’t come overnight. He knew that people had tried to kill him, and would try again and again. He knew that “we as a people” didn’t mean just black people or white people, and he knew that the promised land would only open it’s doors when we as a nation knocked loudly on the gates of justice with respect and unity. This is a message that all Americans, regardless of race, class, religion or gender should be able to support and honor, and that is how I intend to spend this Martin Luther King Jr. day. Dr. King was killed the day after his Mountaintop speech.

I know that a lot of offices are open today, but many more are closed. If you have information on how to make MLK day a non working holiday, or want to get involved, please contact me.

-- 

Sean Bibby