MLK

We sat in the (ugh) minivan waiting for the light at the end of our block.  Monster was chatting about all sorts of things and I was only half listening.  Until I heard him say,  “Mommy, Dr. Martin Lunar King looked like a man, but he was a hero.  He went in peas.  Some kids couldn’t go to school because only white kids could go to school and he didn’t like that so he gave a lot of speeches.  Dr. Martin Lunar King was a hero and also a king.  But not a king with a castle.  I like Dr. Martin Lunar King a lot.”

I resisted the urge to ask more questions, pull more out of him, because I’ve learned it’s best in situations like these to let him just talk.  I always get more from him this way.  Just like with his dad.  I had a million questions of course: what else did you learn?  Did he go in peas or peace?  What do you think about the fact that some kids couldn’t go to school?  What else, what else, what else?

He kept repeating the facts he’d learned that day in school about Dr. King, filtered through his 4-year-old understanding (there will be time to correct Luther and Lunar, peace and peas).  My heart burst as I began to understand the knowledge of one of history’s greatest that Monster had retained.  I loved that he was interested in Dr. King’s story and reveled in the conversation we were having, one I’d long imagined having with my kids.

I share this story on this Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. day because it gives me hope.  My four year old knows his story.  Knows that he was a hero and that he fought for justice.  When I get frustrated and disillusioned with how far we still have left to go with regard to civil rights and race relations in our county my four-year-old gives me hope.  He knows about a hero.  A real one.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.