Martin Luther King Day!

I am 57 years old and grew up in the south. I remember when I was a child. There were separate drinking fountains for "colored". There were signs everywhere "white only". I believe that only through the leadership of MLK and what he did that we will be celebrating the inauguration of an African American president tomorrow. MLK brought about the change that makes tomorrow's inauguration possible. When I was almost 13, I had the honor of meeting MLK. At the time, my dad said he was a "rabble-rouser" and "trouble maker". My parents were not bigots but they were white southerners. Now I look back and see that I had the privilege of shaking the hand of one of the greatest men of the 20th century.

It means our mail doesnt run and our kids are out of school. To bad I don't get a paid vacation as well. That is honestly all I think of this day.

It means we live in a nation that recognizes the achievement of the races that compose our nation, not just that of the caucasian race. The celebration celebrates more than just one man's achievement; it celebrates hope for the future, the future for all citizens, regardless of color or ethnicity.

It seems like a lot of small-town Southerners take offense to this holiday and are quick to tell you that it's actually Robert E. Lee's birthday. Seriously, I saw, on a government institution, a sign that said they would be closed in observance of the Martin Luther King holiday and Robert E. Lee's birthday. Living in the South is like living in another country sometimes. Happy MyLotting!

To me, Martin Luther King represents equality and the freedom, of speech, of activity and of legislation. He reformed American semitism for ever, and moved America from the story of the old African lady on the bus, who refused to give up her seat to a white man, and was arrested for it, to the eventual election of the first ever Black President of the United States. I am British, and what MLK did changed the world forever, not just America