So many young people do not remember the Civil Rights Movement and the wonder and bravery of the young people who changed America. Even I had forgotten how young Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcom X, John Lewis and many others were when they were at the height of the movement…which never stopped by the way because it was never finished. But there was a time when the movement was different…people were dying, disappearing, being lynched, losing their jobs, watching their homes burn in the middle of the night…so, it was a little different from now. And the other movements for women’s rights, gay rights, etc. that would follow were different…a path to successes had been forged and many of the activists in those movements had cut their teeth in the height of the civil rights movement.
During Black History Month we revisit the time with all of the documentaries. For some reason or the other their youth just jumped out at me this time around. It was not just a movement of older people, it was full of young people…young workers, young college students, even teens who didn’t want this to be their future. They were serious young people full of hope, purpose and courage. Some of them did not live to see the fruit of their blood. But many of us today do and so over the next six months I am going to spend a great deal of time with the young people who are close to me and talking to them about their part in forging the future. I do that all the time…but now is the time to be blazingly intentional. A change must come.
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