In Honor of a King.

Today's Thoughts...

Today in class there was a rare moment. I got choked up, almost to the point of tears. Naturally I shrugged and tried to make light of it, but for once I couldn’t. You see we were talking about American icons and so I showed a video of MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) giving his “I have a dream” speech when it occurred to me that my students had no clue what Civil Rights meant, what the 'dream' was about, or why it was and is so incredibly important to our country and to me. I don't know when the last time was when I thought about what it really means to me and for... me. When I told them that not too long ago people like me couldn’t drink water from the same fountains as others and that we were barred from even going to school with other children, they were all in shock. ‘You mean teacher because you look Black?’ Well, because I am Black. Something about watching MLK stand at the foot of the Lincoln Monument, explaining the inspiring significance of Obama in the White House, and watching the recognition dawn on their faces about their own exuberant ‘Obama, Obama!’s’ here in Thailand… it hit me somewhere deep. And I wasn’t expecting that.

Update: For the quiz that week, I had my students answer some questions on segregation and the importance of the dates 1863, 1963, and 2008 in American history (obviously with regards to race and the racial divide). I got back some wonderfully heartfelt responses from my students at the bottom of their quizzes and here was one of the notes to me:
"We could not jude the book by is cover, your heart and your skin are not the same. You're very kindness, gentle, lovely. We love you because your behave and good things you have don. Love is Color Blind. [insert drawing of a crying baby]." You know, these kids constantly find new ways to touch me.