Today our social media feeds are filled with photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a dozen of his quotes that many of us can nearly recite by heart now. I find it difficult to fathom that today he would be the same age as Barbara Walters, had he not been assassinated.
Today, this particular family in the photo comes to mind when I re-read Dr. King’s words,“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
If you count, this husband and wife adopted FIVE children from various backgrounds and races.
They live today in the far northern regions of our country, but I do know that they have been met with hateful stares and vile words from strangers when they have ventured into the southern regions to visit family. This breaks my heart, and I can only think that this is surely not what Dr. King envisioned that we would become. Two people opened their home and filled it with love for five lucky children. Why would anyone revile them for this?
To those of us who hope that a kinder, gentler, more accepting type of person will one day represent the typical American… take solace in the fact that we seem to be quietly swelling in numbers. Our day will come.
By the way, this photo became the model for one of our book covers this year. We published this book because we found that children that we knew personally had never seen anyone who looked remotely like themselves in a coloring book. As you might imagine, we took a lot of heat for daring to think this way.
We honor a great man today. May we each find a quiet, peaceful way to pay our respects to him.
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Photo permissions owned by Kymberli Mulford, Inc.