Hey! It's been a minute... How ya'll doing?
You have been busy raising the babies, and we have been busy building up our network and growing our relationships with child support groups and state departments to make our services more applicable for you. But lets talk about something more relevant to today...
Martin Luther King Jr. Day or MLK Day
It feels like you just sent those kiddos back to school and poof! They're back home again for the long weekend. But do they understand why?
Martin Luther King Jr. - lovingly referred to today as MLK because we acronym everything these days - was a baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the Mid-1950s until he was assassinated in 1968. His participation and leadership in this movement led to the end of segregation of Black Americans in the South mainly as well as other parts of the United States. He lost his life to angry white male felon/fugitive named James Earl Ray - or at least that's what the history books tell us.
MLK Day Today.
You know as well as we do that the segregation against Black Americans did not end with the death of MLK Jr. Just like you know as well as I do if you do any digging that James Earl Ray was a scapegoat. It's laughable that people who write the history books want us to believe that a white male escaped from prison just in time to kill an influential person like MLK who was heading a rolling steam engine of civil men and women fighting for equality. (Read Lies My Teacher Told Me available on Amazon).
But I digress. I am not writing this blog to stir the pot, but I do want to acknowledge a few things we do as Americans and a few things we should be doing instead regarding what we learned from MLK Jr.
First, MLK Jr. did not end segregation of Blacks and Whites.
His speeches and marches may have changed the laws and the way civilization was structured, but it did not end the opinions people have about the two races. Some a**hole white men and women still have that mental opinion that blacks are bad and vice versa (that's right, I said a bad word, but your're being one). We still have some cops that believe that if two men commit a crime - one black, one white - that the black person instigated it (I stress the word some).
Watch TV. Shameless, season 10 episode 9: Frank gets framed by Faye because he was let go in 1995 on drug charges because Faye's fiance was with him when he was getting high and the cop assumed that the Mr. Holmes (black man in the car) was responsible for the drugs and corrupting poor young Frank's life even though Frank was in the wrong and had been in college for like 10 years because he corrupted his own life. (Side note. Holmes who went to prison for life did not ever get high or deal in his entire life. Frank made a long career of it.)
Another quick point. Good Girls new season on Netflix, Stan, Ruby's husband, admits that as a cop he still felt the need to tell his young son that little Frankie his friend would be treated differently than the young son would if their normal childish mischief ever attracted legal attention. Something their parents also told them when they were young. This is the generation you and I grew up in and his son is growing up in our kid's generation just to give you a little perspective if you don't know the show.
So TV shows that segregation in people's opinion still exists. And it's dead wrong.
Second, We Assume Black Men aren't there for their Children.
Wrong. We run statistics here often for marketing purposes. White men are just as likely to abandon their family as black men are. Well in our case, just as likely to ask the woman to prove it's their baby. It's not race. It's crappy men. Say it with me: "Jerks."
Final one I am going to point out: There's Black Americans, and There's White Americans.
Just don't. We're Americans. And with as scary as the world is out there with war threats from Iran, Terrorists, Rapists, Child Molestors, etc. why the hell are you worried about labeling us like we are a box of crayons?!
No. If we go to war with Iran, those men and women going to fight for our freedom are every shade and creed there is in this beautiful land of the free and you better be gosh darn grateful for every single one of them. And if you need a blood transfusion and you ask the doc if that blood came from a white, black, whatever label person MLK Jr. should come back from the dead and slap you silly.
So don't be so arrogant to believe that you are different or better than someone based on the color of your skin. No one is the dirt beneath your feet. You are for thinking that way.
What do we do about this? W-W-MLK-D.
We do what MLK would want us to do. And Jesus too if you believe in him. Be the change you want to see in the world.
White Americans, step up and pull your head out of your butts to realize that skin color doesn't dictate action, tendency, or anything. There is nothing you can assume from the color of someone's skin. In fact, close your eyes when you go to pass judgment. That may help you. For those of you who already acknowledge this point, spread the word.
Black Americans, keep on building yourselves and the communities around you up. To make a change in opinion, the stereotypes have to be squashed first. And you, my friends, are the beautiful men and women making that happen! Those of you who think "Well I may as well. It's assumed I'm guilty of something illegal or shady so may as well." - Quit it. You know that you're in the wrong and your mom would whoop your butt if she knew.
All Americans, raise your kids better. We can't change everyone. MLK understood this. Instead we focus on the ripple effect. We preach the correct way of living to those who will listen and hope they spread the word to others who listen.
So take time on this MLK Day to realize you are lucky to have your fellow Americans and that we are part of the progress of ending the remainder of the segregation concept. Preach to those who will listen and block out those who won't. Recognize the good in all around you and point it out to your babies while they are young and still think you know everything.
Enjoy your three day weekend!
And share some of those awesome pictures of you and your kids enjoy it to our Facebook post. Remember to hashtag #mydnapaternity and #MLKDay
