MLK That Ignorance For All It's Worth

It’s that time of year to ponder the lessons we have learned from MLK Jr. and to reflect on how far we’ve come as a nation.



Today, I was at a burger joint and I came across a little African-American girl with a Caucasian woman whom I assume was her mother. The woman (we’ll call her “The Mother” to make things simple) was talking with one of the employees at the burger joint about how tomorrow was some holiday and so her daughter had the day off from school. She couldn’t think of the name of the holiday. I muttered, “Martin Luther King Day,” feeling a little embarrassed for butting in.  And she said, “What was that?” So I spoke up louder. And she smiled and said, “I can’t keep track of all of these holidays. I just know when she has a day off.”



And then the woman started talking to the employee about how her daughter was going to a party for Martin Luther King tomorrow. And the employee said, “I think he’s dead.” And they started talking about how this Martin Luther King guy might be dead, and the little girl said, “I think he was shot.” And they were all smiles, like, “Oh, aren’t you smart. Refreshing my memory like that.” And the girl went on to spout all of this knowledge about MLK and the mother is grinning at me like, “Don’t kids just say the darndest things?”



And I thought, How sad is that?  This woman, whom I’m assuming is the mother of this little black girl, doesn’t even know the first thing about the man who died fighting for her freedom.



I try not to judge. I don’t know anything about this woman other than the minute of conversation I overheard. Maybe she was just testing the little girl and pretending to be more ignorant than she was. Or maybe it’s a testament to the indifference that surrounds us when it comes to culturally significant people and events.



Just something that got me thinking today, on the day before MLK Jr. Day.