Dr. Martin Luther King and “The Help”

       I was born in the land of the ‘almost-white’…..Springfield MO. I suppose anyone from the Midwest who has lived outside of big cities has the same experience. Racial diversity was an unknown in our white towns. It still is in a lot of places.  Even religious diversity was and is sketchy. Most of us at this time in my life gave no thought to civil rights and a lot of people I knew looked down on “negroes”, as they were referred to then (or worse). I never could figure out how you could hold this prejudice if you didn’t know any “negroes”! I was just finishing college during the 60′s and consider myself fortunate to have been a witness to the civil rights movement. I wasn’t bold enough to join in on the March on Washington, but it came right through St. Louis where I was living at the time, and I regret it still. That was back in 1963 and 1964 the Civil Rights Act passed. I was very happy for that then and I am now. It did not end man’s inhumanity to man, not in the country and not even in our neighborhoods, but it was a start.

Last fall I saw the movie The Help and I was glad for that too. I think it is important to keep having our attention drawn to the inequalities and tragedies caused by prejudice….just to remind us that we never want to go back to living like that. It was, however, a very gentle look at racial prejudice and segregation.

It pictured only one tiny piece of the problem. The story was told from the point of view of black housekeepers working for white families in the South during the 1950′s. The fear of losing your job, despite it being hateful, was very real and well depicted, but it was a gentle story. There was only one instance of death due to racial prejudice and that was off screen , so the violence was mitigated. Violence, was a huge part of the reason why Dr. King chose to go the other way and pursue his dream for the nation without it.  I believe it could not have happened otherwise.  How pitiful to have to shame a nation to get them to do the right thing. How horrible that the ugly act of his assassination in 1968 had to occur to spur the nation forward and allow acceptance of the newly created Civil Rights Act.

All of this history seems unreal to today’s young people who know of the ugliest parts of segregation only through books where it seems unreal and unrelated to their lives today.  I would hope that you would put on your to-do list a visit to Memphis with your family. Let them see the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, let them see whites-ony bathrooms and drinking fountains, and view part of the underground railroad while you are there. We must all be aware of our history and determined not to allow prejudice of any kind in our hearts.

Well, 2011 was a big year for the civil rights movement. The monument to Dr King was erected in Washington’s National Mall just in time for the 48th anniversary of the march and his “I Have A Dream” speech.  The government gave the land, but private money raised millions to build it.  It is not just a monument to Dr King’s leadership….it is a monument to mark the triumph of reason over prejudice.  I plan to see it as soon as I can.

Happy Birthday, Dr King!