Today I visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. Admission was free in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There was a good crowd there and I was pleased to see so many people taking in a bit of history and culture on a day that honors one of the most significant people and times in our nation’s history. But what was even more pleasing to me was how much my 9 year old niece and 11 year old nephew enjoyed the experience of visiting the museum. It reminded me of myself when I was their age. It was around that age that I really started to love history–more specifically, the transition from the 1950s to the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement, and all of the change that occurred during the 1960s in the United States. So, when people ask me what my favorite time period in history is and I tell them “the 1960s” many people seem offended because they lived during those years, or because it is only 50 years ago, or because they think I’m a hippie or something (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But I think the reason it has always been so interesting to me is because when I first learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, I was truly confused and at times hurt by the fact that there was once a world where people were so mistreated. I simply could not understand how or why racism and segregation could have occurred in the United States of America. I also remember thinking that Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was one of the most beautiful things my innocent ears had ever heard, and the fact that he was killed for believing in that beautiful dream of his was (and still is) something that leaves me sick to my stomach.
When I was in elementary school, I was one of the only white girls in my class. I remember learning about segregation and thinking how different my school would be if segregation still existed. I thought about how my first friend I made in kindergarten would not have been able to go to school with me, and that made me sad. I often thought to myself how I would have acted if I had lived during a time such as that. As I got older and continued to learn about this, I often thought I would have been someone that participated in sit ins, and I definitely would have been at the March on Washington. There is no way I would have stood by and let people treat others so horribly just because of the color of their skin! I, too, would have been a Civil Rights activist. And, as naive as I was, I always thought that my generation was lucky because, thanks to the works of people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., LBJ, Cesar Chavez, Betty Friedan, etc. we would never have to live in a world with such injustices as the ones that went on in our country before the Civil Rights Movement. I also felt this strange sense that I wish I could have lived back then so that I could be a part of something so great, so powerful, something so much bigger than me. The way I saw it, people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, were the bravest, most passionate people. I wanted to be that too.
But now I see that all those problems I thought were solved…are not. The same fights are still being fought. The same hatred is still here. In 2016. And what am I doing about it? I’m not doing what the imaginary 1960s version of myself would be doing. But as far as I can tell, there are a lot of people not doing much about it either. Many of us seem to be complacent. I recently read “We Should All Be Feminists” , (adapted from a Ted talk) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She makes a point that when we do something over and over again it becomes normal. And I think that is what is happening to many of us today. We continue to see injustices in our country — and not just about race but about gender, and religion, and economic status — you name it. And we are getting used to it. It is becoming normal. And I don’t just think about people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for equality in this country, but about the ordinary, every day people that felt so passionately about their cause, whatever it might have been, and got up and did something about it. It made a difference. With all we have at our disposal in 2016, shouldn’t we be able to change things for the better the way people did in the 1960s, but on an even bigger scale? Are we really going to allow ourselves to undo all of the things that so many fought for in our past? It’s really easy to just say, “well that does not really effect me, so I don’t really care” but most of the time the best things happen when you have to face something difficult first.
So, what am I going to do? I don’t know exactly. But what I know for sure is that I will continue to be kind. I will continue to love people and try to find the goodness in everyone. I will teach my students to do the same. I will hope that the next generation will not have the same problems to fight, just as I thought I would not have to. And I will strive to be more like the imaginary 1960s version of myself.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That's a Lot of Stuff 