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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 28, 2005 Why didn’t we support MLK III? By Claire Krulikowski Talent On June 19, Martin Luther King III spoke at World Wellness Weekend in Ashland in front of a far smaller audience than anticipated and with only three black people in the audience. I can’t understand this non-interest at all, any more than I could understand the fear that divided the nation in the 1960s when King’s father led the civil rights movement. Not even 10 years of age at the time of the race riots in the 1960s, my memories of family reactions are few. Those memories are strong though, such as being over at my uncle’s house (the uncle I thought was so great and funny) in their crowded kitchen when the newscast cut into programming and showed police batoning and setting their dogs and firehouses onto black marches. That newscast is framed by a memory of my uncle’s vehement rage, actually spitting as he said “sic ’em” (and more). So much confused talk, anger and fear and confusion; meanwhile that TV image riveted me, and I recall complete anxiety and not understanding why those police were being so cruel to others, and not understanding why these people I loved wanted those black people hurt. Another memory: being home with my mom while the March on Washington took place; seeing the entire Washington Monument area filled with so many thousands of people. I didn’t go out and play because all I wanted to do was watch it. I remember feeling this was a good thing, but Mom was so afraid. I only knew that from snips of conversation I heard when she was on the kitchen phone, and when I’d said something like, “But all they want is to be treated better,” and her hysterical response of fear. In the early 1990s I went to Atlanta and visited Dr. King’s church and walked into a store with video documentaries of all those marches that had angered my uncle. For two solid hours I stood watching several back to back, and for two hours I wept uncontrollably at so much pain inflicted and so much pain courageously endured in order for people to simply be treated as human beings. I wept again this Sunday to see his son who has chosen to continue working for justice. It might have been easier for him to pick another occupation, like becoming a financier or business owner. He chose not to do that. The hard work is still being done by a few. Where was our community on Sunday? Why is there so little interest? DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams