To March or not to March. That is the Question.
(June 6, 2020) Men stand in unity at the Black Lives Matter protest in Washington DC (Instagram: @clay.banks)
Almost four centuries ago, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet wrestled with “To be or not to be. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune,” he wondered, “or take up arms against a sea of trouble.” In cities all over the country, it could not be more clear that black people are sick and tired of the “slings and arrows,” not to mention the beatings and the guns that have resulted in an untold number of dead black men, many of them young, killed by some of the same people who vowed to protect and serve members of their community.
As this is written, thousands of Americans of every age, color, gender, educational and income level, are marching, preparing to march, or resting from their marching in cities all over the nation for the right of black people to be:
treated with respect by all people, especially those who take a vow to protect and serve;
free to go about their lives without being stopped for driving or walking or shopping while black;
free from discrimination in so many walks of life that it would take a book to list them all, and, most of all,
free from being beaten, shot, or choked to death by rogue police officers.
(August 28, 1963) Martin Luther King Jr. in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington DC. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans.
There are, no doubt, millions of people for whom the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was a defining moment in their lives. It was for me. I’d been one of the “silent” supporters of the civil rights movement until then. None of my excuses were good enough, even for me. It would take a divorce, a leap into the future with no financial net, and the grace of God for me to spend the past 35 years trying to make amends by devoting my life to helping homeless people make the most of their lives. I’ve written about those who touched me the most, all of whom happen to be black, in my books. Their lives mattered and I still mourn the loss of those for whom my best efforts were never enough. That’s why I wish, with all my heart that this octogenarian could be marching with Black Lives Matter!