My husband and I are embarrassed to admit this past weekend was the first time we had ever been to the Martin Luther King Center in down town Atlanta. Yes, he has lived here since he was five years old and I moved to Atlanta 7 years ago, so we have no excuse. But, NOW is better than NEVER! Right? We have definitely been living in our white America and ignoring others struggles for far too long. Some people call it "white privilege"...we have had the privilege of never knowing what it is like to live in racial struggle or even know that it is going on around us. Well...it is going on around us and it is very important we honor those that have struggled in our world and continue to struggle on a daily basis today! Considering, we are adopting a child from Uganda who will become African American once he touches US soil, I think it's pretty important that we have been there. We have been talking about going for a couple of years, we always had something else going on at the time.
Saturday morning we ventured down town on Marta, our mass transit system. After walking eight blocks we make it to our first stop, Ebenezer Baptist Church...Martin Luther King Jr.'s church.
Then we walked down the street to his grave...
This is Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King's grave....
The Eternal Flame...this "symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles."
Freedom Walkway...
A statue honoring Martin Luther King Jr.'s life...
"I have a dream" World Peace Rose Garden...the garden is surrounded by poems written by school children.
This poem was written by a third grader...
Civil Rights mural...
Love that smile!!
"If you want to be important, wonderful, if you want to be recognized... wonderful, if you want to be great, wonderful, but recognize... that...he who is greatest among you...shall be your servant. That is the definition of greatness. This morning the thing that I like about it. By given that definition of greatness means everyone can be great. Because everyone can serve...You only need a heart full of grace..."
-From "The Drum Major Instinct" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
While we were there we attempted to watch the 25 minute movie about his life. We only made it about 15 minutes....But, the little bit I did see was very moving and it definitely struck me a little harder than the times before seeing civil rights specials. Civil rights becomes more and more personal to me. I cannot imagine the emotions of the African Americans in the same room with us as we watched all together. It was a strange feeling. I was wondering, 'Were they thinking about me? Was it hard for them to sit in the same room with me as they watched their ancestors get treated that way??' Slavery and Segregation were terrible things. We as white Americans do not relish in that enough. We do not realize what it was like to be in their shoes. I have heard time and time again that "black people just need to get over it." Wow! The nerve of us white people saying that is unbelievable. It only happened less than 50 years ago. We need to sympathize with our fellow dark skinned friends and say, hey, I am so so sorry that my grandparents and great great grandparents treated your family like that. I am horrified by what happened to your race. I am sure that you deal with racial tension everyday of your life. The reality is the reason they "cannot get over it", is because we are still in the middle of strong racial tension TODAY! Even though we as white people are naive to this fact, but it is real and any black person will tell you it is true. Of course things are ten times better than they were in the 60s, but racial tension still exists today.
O.K., sorry for getting on one of my soap boxes! Anyway, we wanted to do the home tour, but our children were breaking down after a long day. I am really glad we had the chance to experience some of what Atlanta has to offer as far as civil rights before we bring Charles Tucker into our family. Can't wait to bring him next time!!! How cool will that be??
**The Lord has reminded me through my mother-in-law, that his ways are not only higher than our ways, but his ways are "not to harm us, but to prosper us!" For some reason, not known to me, Charles Tucker is better off in the babies home than with our family...It would not be his will for C.T. to be with us right now. Maybe he needs something in order to be in our family at the babies home. We will receive a court date in God's timing, which will be perfect. The Lords plans are amazing and he is writing our story along with Charles Tucker's story. If only I can rest in his sovereign plan...then I will find rest for my soul.
"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
-Exodus 14:14 (Thank you Sara and Rachel for this...)
***For many reasons related to our adoption and to protect our family in general, we have decided to go private with our blog. If you would like to follow my blog please let me know by commenting or emailing me, which is on the side bar. I am not really sure how to go private, but I am researching it right now. If anyone knows how to do it, I would love some advice. I am a little sad about this but, I think it is the best decision for our family. Thank you all for understanding!
