B140. A White People Challenge

This MLK weekend let’s do something. All of us white folks. Something.

What if we see this weekend, not primarily as a celebration of a great man who had a dream, but as a reminder and an opportunity to realize his dream, to do what we can to make our world a kinder place for all God’s children, or maybe just to open ourselves to a bit more understanding of racism from a not-white perspective? Will you join me?

What to do:

Attend a local MLK event. Check your newspaper for parades, community breakfasts, church events, etc.

Invite a black friend for lunch or coffee. Maybe in your own home. Maybe several friends, black and white.

Watch a movie or documentary. With your family. With friends. Alone. Check one out from the public library, or stream on-line. A few good ones:
            Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective (2002)
            American Experience: Freedom Riders (2011)
            Ruby Bridges (1998, view free here)
            Hidden Figures (2016)
            The Jackie Robinson Story (2013)
            Captive Heart: The James Mink Story (1996)         
            Selma (2014)
            Roots ( miniseries 1977)
            The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1973)
            The Untold Story of Emmett Till (2005)
            Four Little Girls (1997)
            The Help (2011)
            King (1978)
            MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1 hour video reading) 

Read a book or one of MLK’s speeches, or listen to one as you travel. A few good choices:
            America’s Original Sin (Jim Wallis, 2016)
            The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead, 2016, fiction)
            Small Great Things (Jodi Picoult, 2016, fiction)
            The Class of ’65 (Jim Auchmutey, 2015)
            Twelve Years a Slave (Solomon Northup, 1853)
            Freeman (Leonard Pitts Jr., 2012, fiction)
            To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960, fiction)
            Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass, 1845)
            The Help (Kathryn Stockett, 2009)
            MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech (transcript and 18 min. audio) 

Visit a Civil Rights Museum or another black history site. A few good ones:
            Center for Civil & Human Rights, Atlanta GA
            MLK National Historic Site, Atlanta GA
            The International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Greensboro NC
            National Museum of African American History Culture, Washington DC
            MLK Jr. Memorial, Washington DC

Donate to your local NAACP, or a local black church or university.

Write a Letter to the Editor or write a blog. Maybe about one of the above experiences, or anything else that might make a difference.

Just do something. And if you want to extend your impact on the world, include more white people. Invite your book club to read the book. Invite friends or family members on your museum trip or to the MLK parade. Introduce your black and white friends to each other.


And then share on social media what you did. Why? Because it takes us all to make a movement. Our posts can motivate others to want to be a part, and our posts can show our black sisters and brothers that we are walking beside them as best we know how; and with our small efforts this year, we will understand a little better next year, and the next and the next.

"In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." (MLK)

" . . .one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"  (the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag)

Photos:

Top: Inside Ebenezer Baptsit Church where MLK Sr. was pastor during MLK Jr's childhood, Atlanta GA
Mid-blog: MLK's childhood home where he was born, Atlanta GA
Below left: MLK Memorial in Washington DC

Below right: MLK's burial site in Atlanta GA