Thank You, Dr, King
Things happen in my life that are beyond explanation. Some people say everything happens for a reason. Maybe that's true.
I had been fired from my job at the radio station with good reason I might add. They said it was a re-organization but I was the only one being reorganized. A friend who had worked with some people at a station in Atlanta gave them a call and arranged an interview. It would involve a move from Florida to Georgia but it was a larger market and more importantly another job.
Back then ADD was unheard of but that never stopped me from not knowing what to prioritize. The funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King was taking place in my very destination that very day. I never thought for a moment that event and my trip would become one.
Back in the sixties the trip up I-75 to Atlanta was mostly uneventful broken only by the monotony of palmetto and pine. Atlanta has probably since the days of horse and buggy been a traffic nightmare. With the events of the day it was soon stop and go along the interstate through the city.
Coming upon an overpass the traffic stopped all to gather and people were exiting vehicles and peering over the guardrail. There below was the mule drawn cart with bearing the body of the man who probably did more than anyone to influence my life. Even then it was an epiphany.
With Dr. King there is the unthinkable possibility the I would not have the joy of being married to the live of my life. Back then it was in many places illegal for people of different complexions to marry. When I bought my house in Baltimore in 1992 the deed stated that no person of color could occupy same unless as a servant. Of course, that item was no longer relevant except as a silent reminder of a time which should better be forgotten....or should it?
I had been fired from my job at the radio station with good reason I might add. They said it was a re-organization but I was the only one being reorganized. A friend who had worked with some people at a station in Atlanta gave them a call and arranged an interview. It would involve a move from Florida to Georgia but it was a larger market and more importantly another job.
Back then ADD was unheard of but that never stopped me from not knowing what to prioritize. The funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King was taking place in my very destination that very day. I never thought for a moment that event and my trip would become one.
Back in the sixties the trip up I-75 to Atlanta was mostly uneventful broken only by the monotony of palmetto and pine. Atlanta has probably since the days of horse and buggy been a traffic nightmare. With the events of the day it was soon stop and go along the interstate through the city.
Coming upon an overpass the traffic stopped all to gather and people were exiting vehicles and peering over the guardrail. There below was the mule drawn cart with bearing the body of the man who probably did more than anyone to influence my life. Even then it was an epiphany.
With Dr. King there is the unthinkable possibility the I would not have the joy of being married to the live of my life. Back then it was in many places illegal for people of different complexions to marry. When I bought my house in Baltimore in 1992 the deed stated that no person of color could occupy same unless as a servant. Of course, that item was no longer relevant except as a silent reminder of a time which should better be forgotten....or should it?
posted by The MacBean Gene at 4:11 AM
4 Comments:
Never forget... only by remembering our mistakes and our crimes do we learn from them.
Nice to see you again, Binty.
No, not forget them. It's necessary to learn from the experiences, but I only wish that it wouldn't have to be so much of them!!!!
Of course we haven't had that much of it in little ol' Sweden, but we know well of your history since we learn it in school and we always keep an eye on the US...
Sometimes I think, though, that attitudes still haven't changed enough and that we still have a long way to go.
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