MLK Boulevard, ANYBLACKTOWN, USA: Like the man himself, a partial picture...
A true, complete picture of the man Rev./Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is generally not presented, and it can be argued one step further: When Dr. King was effectively turned into a saint after he died, he and his message started to lose their effectiveness and to some extent, their hold on people. This was probably not an accident either. The more detached Dr. King was made to seem from us actual humans, the reasoning probably went, the more likely we would not follow what he preached while he was was among us.
On some level, people need to know that Dr. King was human and had faults just like the rest of us--other women allegedly turned his head, for example; the man was not perfect. Dr. King was never a saint, he was a man who, despite his faults, gave his life for progress. The real life, flesh and blood man--not the ideal of a perfect man--should be emulated and praised.
Today, Dr. King is seen as someone "out there...from back then" who did great things, who, for a kid in 2008, other than being able to reach up to a street sign that says "MLK BLVD" that lingers above a usually tore up inner-city street, the Rev./Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man, is unreachable.
It should not be this way.
This problem of ignoring the less than pleasant side of things goes beyong Dr. King. If we sugar coat issues, young people see through it and ignore what is being said--e.g. sex, violence, drugs, et al. are simply "bad."
The message cannot be left at "just say no" because sex is enjoyable, violence has a twisted appeal for many people, and, I assume, that while people are doing drugs, there can be a fantastic high. But there ARE consequences.
Show both--the good and the bad--for the real message to ring true. Too many "messengers"--some modern day preachers on the one hand, and some Hollywood producers on the other--show the "just say no" side or the "hell yeah!/consequences be damned" other side, leaving the truth sagging in the middle like an unused dumbell weight that inevitably is dropped between them.
Sadly, too often, neither side wants to hold up the truth, and all of us suffer because of the confusion that results.
Truth be told...or it will get worse.
Copyright © 2008 Clymel Thomas
Publisher DarkstreetLit.com
