Day 6 – I AM A MAN

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his last speech, “I’ve been to the Mountaintop,” at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968. Delivered the day before he was tragically assassinated, Dr. King was in Memphis in support of sanitation workers on strike.

Black sanitation workers wanted the same pay, working conditions, and rights as white sanitation workers. They wore “I AM A MAN” placards, referencing a 19^th century abolitionist campaign which featured a woodcut image of an enslaved man and the words, “Am I not a man and a brother?”

Today we visited the “I AM A MAN” Plaza in Memphis and read Dr. King’s last speech:

“The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around…But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”

These prophetic final words are heartbreaking given that he was murdered the next day. They are also heartbreaking because these words still ring true for the U.S. Our nation is still sick. There is still trouble in this land and confusion. People in this country are still crying out for freedom.

As I considered Dr. King’s words today, my heart is particularly heartbroken over the struggle of black Americans. The desire the same human rights and equality has evaded them since slavery was introduced to the indigenous lands we now call the U.S. The current Black Lives Matter movement is simply crying out for equality.

Now, a lot of white Americans do not see this struggle. They do not see the myriad of privileges that they have simply for being considered white. They do not notice that white culture is the dominant culture in the U.S. Their eyes and hearts are closed. They dehumanize those associated with the current BLM movement, as white Americans did during the Civil Rights Movement.

The work of equality and human rights is not finished. Let us heed Dr. King’s words: “the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”

Sarah P. Myers

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