Martin Luther King Jr.

Here in the city of Atlanta is where Dr. Martin Luther King spent many years of his life. His home where he grew up is here in Atlanta. The church where MLK pastored , and the segregated public school where MLK graduated from is here in Georgia. There is a lot more history here than I could have imagined. It's a shame that through all my griping and moaning about living here I could experience something so meaningful.

My family and I decided to take a trip to the King Center in downtown Atlanta. I didn't really know what to expect, but the experience was one of the most memorable since I've moved here. As soon as you step onto the property the path up to the King Center is lined with the foot prints of the influential people in the fight for equality: Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, Jesse Jackson. Even celebrities like Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne and Stevie Wonder. A statue of Ghandi greets you at the end of the walk way before you enter the building.

Inside is where it got really DEEP. You just feel and aura of reverence come over you, and it seems inappropriate to even sneeze or cough. You are saturated by the unforgettable words of Dr. King, as his speeches are played over the speakers. You don't have a choice but to stop in your tracks and listen. Listen to the intentional deep shake in his voice, to the intonation and pitch. All of those rhetorical tools can be taught in a voice and diction class, but the words are undeniable. Sermons and Speeches like that a pure and straight from the heart. That doesn't come from any classroom. It touches something deep. I don't care who you are. If you stop and listen, you will be effected.

The whole room just permeates with pride. A type of pride that today is shadowed, or exploited by the media. The definition of what being black is, has a totally different meaning from the past to now. Back in MLK's time black people fought for dignity. They would suffer the burning sands of hatred just to be thought of as equal. But today, we don't have the fight in us like they did, so we submit to mediocrity. Don't get me wrong, we can talk the talk, but not many will walk the walk like the black people of old.

Black people in the movement felt they "made it" when they were given access to things that should have already had. A front seat or a new school book to read. Today black people think the "made it" according to their bank rolls. Money doesn't mean anything if your character is out of wack.

That whole MLK center experience just really effected me. It made me want more for myself. Most black people in the past have accomplished a boat load more than I have, and they had access to half as much. I want to have pride in my accomplishments, I want to demolish mediocrity, and execute superficiality. The MLK Center showed me that it's time to step my life up a few (hundred) notches. There are black people who died for me to have a life worth living, and we as a people ( black or white alike) should take advantage of that opportunity, reach our potentials, and live a life of substance.

"When Evil men plot, Good men must plan

When Evil men burn and bomb
good men must build and bind.
When evil men shout ugly words of hatred,
Good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.
When evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo,
Good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

A Depiction of one of the marches.

A recreation of a jail cell Dr. King was confined to. Only big enough for a small bench to sit on.

A picture of a lynching in the South. "Southern trees bear a strange fruit"

The wagon that carried Dr. King's casket

Where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his wife Coretta Scott King lay to rest.