Monday, January 17, 2005

Honoring Dr. King

Here I am, a white man in the south, a child of the 60s- offspring of racists- honoring Dr. King and praying for our black communities and hoping for an end to racial strife. My grandfather was a racist. I heard the "n" word constantly growing up. My father was a Birmingham firefighter in the 60s. But early on, I felt that they were not right about their opinion of blacks. I credit that to the Southern Baptist church I grew up in, inter-racial schools, and athletics.
My faith teaches me that we are all descendants of Adam. So there is only 1 race. My understanding of genetics teaches me that the original parents were more dark skinned than light skinned. My understanding of sin educates me in how racism and prejudice is born.
As a fromer lit teacher, I learned to love Dr. King's sermons. I love Frederick Douglas. I find it sad that Uncle Tom has such a bad connotation. He is one of the great characters in American Literature.
So I pray for a land that discriminates only by character. I feel there is sin on both sides. May we find peace and harmony - but only Christ can end the strife.

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