As I looked over the children’s artwork , I wondered if they or their parents had really understood the assignment. The homework sheet asked the children to create something expressing their hope on Martin Luther King Day. I had been excited to see what preschoolers would create; how King’s radical message might translate into the terms of a four-year old’s daily experience. Yet much of the art didn’t seem to deal with the theme at all.
Many of the pictures expressed hope for things the children might receive, almost like letters to Santa. Rather than tying into a larger story, kids colored a world where their own individual preferences were met (preferences for lovely things, like cake and puppies, but not necessarily things that had to do with Martin Luther King). Standing in contrast to the array of wish lists was one boy’s art. He hoped, he wrote, for a world without any jails. Martin Luther King had been taken to jail for doing the right thing. And he hoped that that would not happen to anyone again. I also learned from the artist that Martin Luther King taught people to be peaceful, which was a very important thing to remember and a very difficult thing to put into practice. I should say that the children are very perceptive in conversation; I often talk to them when I am dropping off or picking up. So perhaps the candy-coated artwork was just a misunderstood assignment.
It made me wonder, of course, how often we all misunderstand the assignment when it comes to Dr. King. So I would like to ask you what the Montessori teachers asked their kids: What do you hope this Martin Luther King Day? Let’s think and talk together.
With aloha,
J
5 comments
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January 16, 2012 at 7:21 pm
jeremyrut
I’ll answer first: The artist inspired me to revisit Michelle Alexander’s extraordinary book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander writes powerfully of how young people of color are swept into the criminal justice system, branded felons, and then denied a whole host of rights and opportunities for the rest of their lives. The book brings to light some of stunning racial disparities that still exist but are not often talked about.
The young artist’s hope that there would be no more jails reminded me of my own time as a chaplain working with county inmates. In my own experience, what Alexander documents is very true.
I am challenged again by the artwork, by the book, and by the man we remember today to examine race, class, and privilege, asking how I have benefited from a system that does not treat everyone equally and how I should respond as a person of faith who would struggle for justice…
J
January 16, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Raymond
I am challenged to resist complacency. In my work I am reminded daily of the injustices that still exist. Incarceration. Gun violence. Poverty. Limited access to health care and quality schools. As the list grows longer the impact deepens. It is easy to lose hope. Today I am reminded to not lose hope. To give. To vote. To be an advocate for children.
January 19, 2012 at 3:52 pm
John Preston
Guess like the kids who didn’t understand the assignment, I have a hard time not thinking of what I want. The Center for the Healing of Racism has been around for about 25 years and has done some amazing work. Now, with the drying up of most grant money, we are struggling. Perhaps there is no more racism to fight. But I doubt that. Have struggled for 6 years on the Board and still cannot get it right. The question I have for Dr. King today is what is your take on race relations now and how do we open up dialog and our hearts to the suffering of our fellow human beings…be they black, brown, yellow, white, gay, female, Republican, Democratic–whomever?
January 20, 2012 at 3:52 am
Tonya
I’ve tried to explain “big” concepts to Emma to make sure that she get’s it the way I want her to, only to find that what she gets about what I said can be totally different. Now, I try to explain whatever it is we’re talking about in mostly simple language and let her decide and direct the conversation to her interest and sometimes that becomes an inspiring conversation and sometimes it’s mundane. When we talked about MLK she wanted to talk about why someone wouldn’t like another person because of the way they looked. This idea baffled her.
Emma once pointed to a pretty girl she’d been playing with and talked to me about how pretty the little girls “brown” skin looked. I asked her what color of skin she and I had and after a moment to think about the question she answered “pink”. Love that kid. That being said, I’m pretty sure if you asked her at four about things she was “hoping for” there would have been some sort of christmas wish list thing happening.
January 21, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Bruce Y.
Jeremy’s own response to his blog draws close to those ways that Martin Luther King, Jr. remains a challenge to me, even as I celebrate what the Civil Rights movement accomplished. These challenges were also a part of my own Christian upbringing, but King’s legacy brings them into focus in the here and now.
The first challenge involves never forgetting that by being born even in a middle-class home in the U.S., I was born into a situation so much more fortunate than many people. The challenge here is to be thankful, and humble, and to never imagine that I have accomplished what I have all by myself. And also to never think that those who are in less fortunate situations have simply not tried hard enough.
The second challenge is to always remember what people in the Bible quickly learned. Namely, that in any society and in any economy, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the powerful get more powerful — unless restraints are enforced within society. If unchecked, the wealthy and the powerful will gain more power to tilt laws (on such things as taxes & property) towards their own interests — rather than toward the possibility of all people in society benefiting.