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Edited on Sun Jan-16-11 01:50 AM by cynatnite
My mother's family come from North Caroline. We're talking southern Baptist believers who are as republican and as conservative as they come. Diversity wasn't high on the list of what's important in life.
As I got older, I realized I had the same birthday as a famous person, but I didn't know that much about him. As I learned, I discovered the days of segregation and the fight for civil rights. What a horrible time that must have been.
Of course, my mother and grandmother will never talk about it. I have no doubt as to what they witnessed in those days in North Carolina. My mother still believes to this day that people of different races shouldn't marry or have children together. My grandmother was illogically afraid of Obama becoming president. She made the firm remark that it meant the blacks would take over. Even my younger sister wasn't spared from ingesting their racism. I've heard her spout the "n" word more than once. I still love my family despite all this.
My education about MLK didn't just come from the tidbits at school.
I learned about MLK because he and I share the same birthday. Were it not for this small fact, I don't think I would have as much appreciation for all that he gave us as I do now.
I was born in 1965 so what I learned came years after he died, but it's my firm belief that this coincidence put me on a far better path. Maybe this is silly, but I am very thankful.
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