In Honor of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

Today is the national holiday honoring the birth of Martin Luther King Jr, the man who forced America to examine our history of racism for a short while. I was only 12 years old when he was cut down in the prime of his life, but I remember the day of his assassination just as clearly as I remember the day President Kennedy was cut down.

There isn’t much I can add to today’s discussion, other than the issue of racism is one that personally impacts me. My first wife was a dark-skinned Filipino immigrant, who was routinely confused for any one of a dozen different nationalities.  I had direct experience with racism by being with her, and being part of her Filipino family.

My present wife is a Chinese immigrant, and once again I’ve directly experienced the impact of racism against her both as institutional discrimination, and personal discrimination against her that infuriated me. I have frequently made the observation that in the year I was born, both of my marriages were illegal (miscegenation) in about 16 states of these United States.

Opposition to racism, and the concept of giving people a fair chance to excel (or not excel) based on their abilities and not by race, religion, skin color, or creed, go right to the core of my inner being.  The older I get, and the more that people like asshole Donald Trump and his corrupt sidekick Ted Cruz become accepted as mainstream personalities, the stronger my opposition to racism becomes.

I don’t have much more to add, other than a post of the YouTube video of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s iconic speech “I Have A Dream.”

Rest in peace, Dr. King. Your time on this earth was too short, but your legacy still lives on.