Thursday, April 4, 2013

45 Years On...


And we're still learning the lessons.

Sometimes you see a piece of journalism so masterful and beautiful that you simply want to let it stand on its own. Marc Perrusquia's gorgeous photo essay in today's Commercial Appeal, “Leading Up To six:01 - Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Last 32 Hours” is just that. Please take a few minutes to read the story, whether you know it like the back of your hand or there are details missing in your conception of what happened on April 4, 1968. Sometimes I feel like this city's history is always in the air -- other times I feel like many of us do our best to ignore it, or worse, are apathetic to it.

In my day job, I'm the Associate Director of a national gay rights organization called Truth Wins Out, and I wrote about this day there a little bit earlier, ending my piece with these words:

We all have a responsibility to each other to listen, to understand, to tell others the stories, to ensure that we have each others’ backs when it comes to eradicating all injustice. 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would demand nothing less.

I think the entire city of Memphis would benefit from doing just that. Learn the stories, remember the stories, tell the stories, and move forward together.

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