WHAT MIGHT MLK JR. SAY TO EDUCATORS ABOUT COVID-19?
This is what I think Martin Luther King Jr. might have said about the pursuit of principles of justice and inclusion by educators in our current environment.
I have used his words almost verbatim with some modest embellishment.
In the midst of COVID 19, the world is a different place. Our nation, our state and communities are different.It almost seems as if the world has been put on pause.But we can’t wait to make a difference…We are a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscienceThe words ‘bad timing’ come to be ghosts haunting our every move …Yet people who use this argument are ignorant of the background of our planning…they did not realize that it was ridiculous to speak of timing when the clock of history showed that communicates of color have already suffered one hundred years of delayWe can’t wait to make a difference in our community… In our state… In our nation… In our world…The time is always ripe to do right.Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively…Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of [people] willing to work…and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.So, you have my commitment to do right today and in the future. And in the words of Martin Luther King Jr:We need a powerful sense of determination to banish… the narcotics of delay that could dull the pain of progress.As we emerge from COVID 19 I hope that our communities become healthier, more just, more impactful and more united.We can’t wait to make a difference. The time is always ripe to do what is right.
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