MLK, Barack Obama, and My Children
Dreams really do come true
-Jennifer Trannon, BettyConfidential.com
My husband looked at my three children, searching for the words to explain to them what the election of Barack Obama meant to him. Raw emotion was on his face and in his voice when he spoke to them.
My children are very familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King. We've watched his speeches, and we make him a birthday cake every January. Just six days before the election, we had the amazing opportunity to have lunch with Dr. King's son, and my 11-year-old was able to shake his hand and ask him, "What is your dream?" So when my husband led the conversation with "When Dr. King delivered the 'I have a dream' speech," my children knew exactly what he was talking about.
"When Dr. King said 'I have a dream that one day ... children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,"' he paused here, and looked into their faces. He was looking at the faces of three Black children who have never been called ' ----- ,' have never had rocks thrown at them, and have never been told "we don't have colored bathrooms here." Could they possibly understand what he was trying to say? Could I as a white woman really understand it?
To read more about this family's meeting with Dr. King's son, click here.
