…is for remembering.
Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. — MLK Jr.
I have long been a fan of Martin Luther King Jr. and I loved his “I have a dream” speech… and have watched it dozens and dozens of times. It provides the most “cherry picked” quotes by the GOP and I am sure that you will hear their favored line quoted loud and long today. I am pretty sure that Dr. King would point out their lack of understanding… because he had a quote for that as well:
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
This weekend I have spent time pondering what Dr. King would think of the status of the world today and I think he might agree that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We might not have lynchings today but what we have might be even worse…police killings (in a sickening number… The WaPo has been tracking police shootings since 2015. I am gifting this link to the data so you can all look at it, if you’d like – I know, it’s a lot for a Monday morning.)
One person’s name was glaringly absent from the 40 persons who have been killed by police in January… yes, that is in the 15 days of this month… shocking, I know. However, this data does not contain the name of the young teacher and father who flagged down police for help… Keenan Anderson. Why not? Well… the police did not shoot him, they tazed him to death.
This weekend, I have been thinking much about Mr. Anderson, Dr. King, and the 8,124 people who have been killed by the police since 2015 and it all feels like the most overwhelming mountain of despair…
But what about that stone of hope?
I believe, perhaps as Dr. King did… that all of us are those stones of hope….
A daunting task? Yes, absolutely. But together… all those stones of hope eventually make a mountain of hope, no?
And, in case you need a starting point, a bit of guidance… Mr. Anderson’s cousin has written an excellent book to get you on your way!
I will see you all back here on Wednesday.
what a beautiful quote and one I am not familiar with. May your Monday be restive and see you Wednesday!
I’m another who likes that quote. Numbers can be alarming…we all need to be those stones.
Maybe things are better “externally” but I fear it’s going to take a long time to change what’s in people’s hearts and minds. But they won’t change unless we gather our stones of hope and try to change “sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Thank you for the reminder and book recommendation.
That is a heavy way to start the week, but it is a good way, too.
I cannot help wondering how many police have been killed in the line of duty in the same amount of time. I know that there are many people who should not be police and people who are shot by police that don’t deserve it, but on the other side being a police officer is an amazingly dangerous job. I am grateful for the good police who are willing to risk going to work every day to keep us all safe.
I read about Keenan Anderson yesterday and I feel so discouraged that barbaric acts like this continue to occur. Thank you for your thoughtful post and for the MLK quote. I will try to be a “stone of hope”!
I read yesterday that Keenan Anderson was the fourth Black person killed by the LAPD this year — in only two weeks! It is just horrifying. But I think the biggest message I have taken from everything Dr. King had to share with the world is that there is always hope for things to be better.
Excellent post Kat. Such tiny little stones but maybe someday they will add up. My other favorite quote is that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. I just have to keep this one in my heart.
Depressing statistics. The older I get the more puzzled and sadden I am by human kind.
A gut punch of a post…AND critical.
Your statement: “…I think he might agree that the more things change, the more they stay the same…” reminds me–a few months ago at the grocery store, I saw this message on a Black man’s tee shirt: “Free’ish since 1865.” I stopped in my tracks–and have thought of it often since then. I hope I’m not the only one.
Thank you for this lovely post, Kat.
XO