My Tribute

Back before Martin Luther King, Jr day was a federal holiday, my siblings and I would be among the few black children in school. I hated that. I could not understand why my mother would send us to school on the King holiday and no one else was going. I thought all black people deserved a day of rest. And if they weren't going to give it to us, we should take it anyway. After a couple of attempts to get an answer she finally told me why we had to go to school. She said that thousands of people were beaten, lynched, jailed, raped, homes burned down, and humiliated so that I could go to school and receive the same education and opportunities as anyone else. Those people never gave up; some even giving the ultimate sacrifice, for me to be given this chance. She felt that we had to be in school on the holiday.
My young mind couldn't grasp the fullness of that statement, but I accepted it and went to school every year until it was a calender day off.
Fast forward 20+ years. I am often the only black employee at work on the King holiday. I take a couple of hours off to march in the parade and attend the ceremony, but I'm right back at work. I don't travel on this holiday, for some reason it is extremely important for me to be in town to attend those events.... here, at home. I'm often asked why I come by my co-workers, because most of them take the day off with out pay. My answer is always the same. Too many people made the sacrifice for me to take a day off. I realise that the struggle is far from over. We have a lot of work to do and we are not in position to be able to take a day off. After all, Dr. King never took a day off. I view the day, the times of his life and his sacrifice with the utmost reverence, and that is why I work on this holiday.
When I think about the sisters and brothers in Birmingham who walked to work for months during the boycott. Or the young people who took beatings and harassment to sit at lunch counters. Or the share croppers who were lynched for demanding a decent wage. Or the Little Rock Nine. Or the four little girls who were blown up in church. Or the young people who marched knowing that the dogs would be loosed on them. See my way doesn't seem so hard. It's just another day on the job. But it is thru these peoples sacrifice and countless others that I am in position to do this job. For that, I say thank you.