Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.-"Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I admit that when I was younger, “Martin Luther King Jr. Day” didn’t mean much to me. We would learn about him and what he stood for, the wonderful things that he did and the terrible way that he died, but for the most part it was just another history lesson and a day off from school.

Once we added to our family by transracial adoption and issues of race went from being problems of the world to being my problems, the next time Martin Luther King Jr. Day rolled around, it meant a lot more to me.

Today we talk about MLK in our home often, and not just on that day off from school in January. We talk about the history of our country and what it was like for African American’s not very long ago and how unfair that was. We also talk about how even though we have come a very long way since then, that there is still a long way to go to achieve true equality for everyone and that racism and prejudice still exist in our country.

Tonight we will be learning about and talking about Martin Luther King for our family night. Here are some links about MLK.

Here is the video of his great “I Have a Dream” speech, which he gave from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963.

And here is a page from Yahoo news that is full of news articles, audio clips, video clips and other links to sites about Martin Luther King Jr.


I think my favorite quote from MLK is this one from his “I Have a Dream” speech,

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

I can’t help but think that our transracial families are in part, a realization of this dream. My black children and my white children and my Asian children all live together, play together, eat together and most of all love together. We are a family. And while I know that our country still suffers from prejudice and inequalities, I also think that it is worth celebrating that things have changed so much. Forty years ago, blacks and whites could not use the same water fountains or restrooms, and today they can be members of the same family.

So today we will be renewing our commitment to not forget MLK’s dream and to not sit back and be content with things the way that they are when there is still so much room for improvement, and yet at the same time, we will be celebrating how far we have come, and the fact that our family and others like ours, can exist today.

I will leave you with a few more quotes from that wonderful man.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
-- Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
-- Strength in Love (1963)