*This was sent to me today in an email and I felt deep and felt compelled to share*
A TRUE KNOCK--AT MIDNIGHT!
One late evening, there was a knock at my door. I opened it. To my
amazement, in the doorway stood Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr! He was
dressed exactly the way they dressed in the 60's. Only--he was in black
and white like an old movie--and the rest of our modern world was in
color.
Dr. King explained he had been gone for quite some time (over 35
years).
He knew that the world had changed. He hoped I wouldn't mind helping
him
navigate his way through our current society so he could find his way
back to his family. I invited him in.
As Dr. King made his way over to my couch, and sat in front of my
entertainment system, he asked me about all the gadgets connected to my
TV set. I explained that one was my CD player, one my VCR and one was
my DVD player.
Dr. King marveled at the new, uncharted technology. And had a host of
questions. I explained it all to him the best I could and he was
astonished. Then he asked about the 'other' box. I told him that was my
cable box. Based upon the confused look on his face, it was apparent
that this, too, needed explaining.
I turned on the television and after a brief description and
instruction on the use of the remote control, he clicked from channel to channel.
He was very impressed by the fact that there were so many channels
geared towards specific interests, including one of his old favorites, the
original `Star Trek´.
Dr. King continued further and eventually stopped at one of the
national music channels airing its hip-hop programming. Dr. King asked, "What
IS that?" I explained that it was a music video; a way today´s music is
presented to the public. As one video after another was aired, I
noticed a pause in his questions.
Dr. King was silent. His facial expressions changed from amazement to
distress and disappointment. He asked. "Is THIS what our music has come
to? Is THIS supposed to be progress? "Why do our women condone this
obscene portrayal of their womanhood?
"WHY have our men allowed this take place?" "Have BOTH forgotten the
emotional and physical abuse that OUR male and female ancestors had
been subjected to?" "Our Black men and Black women NOW view each other as
the enemy," I said. "We spend much of our time today running down and
running each other away, rather than uplifting each other." Dr. King
said nothing for a little while, and kept watching the video production.
He soon spoke again. "And why do our young men act this way? Obsessed
with materialism and being disrespectful to our women?" I told him it
was called, "thuggin". He asked me to explain what "thuggin" was. "It
means to be hard and unfeeling, uh, you know? A gangsta? Cash rules
everything! Ride or Die!
Having no respect for anything or anyone. Any negative quality about a
man." I said. After several strange looks and double takes from Dr.
King, I realized that there was no way to explain or justify "thuggin"
to him. I tried, to my embarrassment, to change the subject.
Abruptly, Dr. King asked if anyone else could view these videos?
"Anyone who pays for cable--or DSS," I replied.
"You--mean--to--tell--me--that you
actually PAY money to WILLINGLY witness this?" Dr. King inquired,
sounding so much like my late Grandfather, a Baptist preacher.
I could only, sheepishly answer "yes".
Dr. King continued his questioning. "Is this behavior accepted by
everyone? Where have all the ministers, pastors and leaders gone? Why
haven't the pulpits spoken out against this?" I told him, there haven't
been any who are w illing to step out there and put it on the line
since
he left here. "Besides, folks don't take church and the Bible seriously
anymore." I added. "They just go- -for show."
"Are you sure of this, or are you guessing?" Dr. King asked, then
continued, "I never worried about leaving here because I was so sure
that there would be more who would come after me...the Lord had been so
GOOD to me--to US!" The music videos continued to drone on. Dr. King,
becoming more and more disgusted and angrily thundered; "THIS is how
we...OVERCAME?"
He grabbed my cable box, ripping it from the back of the T.V., and
smashed it on the floor. He was right. I couldn't get mad. As we stood
there looking at the wreckage, Dr. King then apologized and asked could
we please leave because he just wanted to see his family. "Is there any
place that I can go to get some gifts for my family?" Dr. King asked.
We soon got into my car and headed to the mall, `spinners´ and all. We
WERE a sight to SEE.
Dr. King was fascinated by the size of the mall and selection of
different stores. It must have been a weekend because as we started to
walk around, I noticed that the mall was filled predominately with
teenagers. Many of them were loud and using profanity.
Dr. King asked a young brother in front of a group of his friends why
is
it necessary to be so profane and conduct himself in way that was not
only disrespectful to himself but to his people. The young brother
said,
"F---- you man! Ni**a, you ain't my daddy!" I had to restrain Dr. King
from disciplining the young brother with some curbside justice.
I asked the teenager, "Do you know who this is? He replied, "Hell naw,
he ain't `iced´ out so why should I care!" At this point I--WAS READY
to snatch my man--but Dr. King urged me to leave the young brother be.
Soon, we wer e both able to calm down. However, he had skillfully
realized that the young people were only imitating what they had seen
in
the music videos earlier.
"They have been mentally infected with the ignorance of the images they
covet. THIS is the direction our future has taken?" He asked. "Have we
come down off the mountaintop to take up residence in the grave?"
I suggested that we just get the gifts and go. As I started to walk
further, I noticed Dr. King hurriedly walking back towards the door we
had originally entered.
I ran after him, shouting; "Hold up Dr. King, where are you going?"
With
a distressed look Dr. King said, "I'd rather go back--I must go back."
"Why?" I asked. "You wouldn't understand," He mourned. "Try me, Dr.
King." I stated, as I watched the tears form in his eyes. "You see...I
never got to see my kids grow up. I missed the holidays, graduations and
birthdays, all in the name of sacrifice. I felt it was necessary to
bring about equal opportunity and a brighter future for this generation.
All I see is that
a few of us got rich and the rest became slaves again." I said, "What
are you talking about, this isn't slavery!" Dr. King looked at me and
replied, "Oh it ISN`T?"
He turned and walked towards the doors and exited the mall. I tried to
keep him from leaving but out of nowhere a security guard grabs me and
tells me that I can't leave with Dr. King. I twisted myself away and
bolted out of the exit. Once I got outside, Dr. King had vanished. The
dreamer, the visionary, the Drum Major for Justice once again became
lost to one of those who should have been considered his blood kin.
As I stood outside in the parking lot trying to find him, I wasn't
paying
attention to the traffic. An Escalade on "24's" bumpin' some ignorant
thug anthem came at me. All I could do was brace myself for the impact.
Mercifully, before it hit me, I awoke out of my dream. As I lay in a
puddle of sweat, I tried repeatedly to shake the dream but I couldn't.
I
tried to turn on my entertainment system, but quickly turned it off.
I remembered our ancestors who sacrificed their lives for us. I
wondered
what it would be like if we had to stand before them and justify what
we
have become as a race. What about our vote? What about our achievement?
What about our struggle? What about righteousness?
Why was I picked to have such a dream?
After hours of thinking, rationalizing, and table tapping, I concluded
it was probably GUILT--the guilt of knowing that in our modern era we
had 'flipped the script' on Dr. King's dream. And replaced
that dream, with a cheap copy in our `quest´ to have `the best!´
Then it hit me--the reality of the dream. If I were that GUILTY in
front
of Dr. King, how would I feel i n front of the God who gave us the
Bible
AND Dr. King? Could I justify what I had been doing with what I had
been
given? Would I be able to justify the blessings I had reaped at the
expense of others who had come before me?
It was a True Knock--At Midnight.
Posted By: WILLIAM W. HEMMANS III
Tuesday, January 17th 2006 at 12:13PM
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