The Power of Dreams

This is the time of year when the national spotlight is focused on celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Black History overall with particular attention to the Civil Rights Movement in these United States. Although it is now a National Holiday, celebrated in each state except Arizona, it really is not a “vacation” day in the traditional sense of how those days are spent.

These days are spent in introspection, retrospection, prayer and celebration. Honoring our ancestors who paid the high price of slavery and oppression. Who fought the terrible fight that we continue today, for freedom. The luxury of the ”majority” population is the convenience of putting whole cultures in a box, boxes that encompass a week or month in which they pay attention, or not, to Black History, Chicano/Latino History, Native American History… But those boxes don’t contain the experiences of any culture, as we live each day pursuing the freedoms and breaking the chains that continue to bind us.

Early this morning, I attended the All Peoples Breakfast in San Diego. A ballroom filled with diversity and love. ..Good humor protest and gospel songs…. Filled with the possibilities of the Dream. The keynote speaker was Odetta, an African American folk singer who Martin Luther King dubbed the “Queen of Folk music” and of whom Maya Angelou said the following:

"If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time."

She began her speech with the audience joining her in singing “This little light of mine”. And it was a surprise to me how powerful that children’s song is. Her words served as a fresh shot of oxygen for all of our spirits.

Afterwards, I thought it would be a good day to go the movies. I chose the “Great Debaters” to round out my day. As I sat in the theater surrounded by much older Caucasians watching a film that was unapologetic in its depiction of the reality of life in the early part of the 20th century. I felt my own minority status in this place surrounded by people who could have actively participated in these scenes during their lifetimes. In the end my heart was warmed by the response of this audience who stood up an applauded as the credits rolled. I left the theater with my back a little straighter and my head a little higher. Convinced that I can do anything…those before me have paved the way and it is my duty to continue to lay the path for those coming after me.

A renewed spirit. A gladdened heart. A recommitment.