Martin Luther King Jr.

Many of us remember the big events in our lives by remembering what we were doing at the time of that event.  When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated I was in school in the 3rd grade. I remember the principle coming in to our class and dismissing us and telling us to go home that our president had been shot. I remember the sadness that prevailed and seeing my Grandfather cry, this was the first time that I had ever seen a man openly weep. I didn't know anything about politics at that age and seeing this through a child's eyes was like seeing a family member had died. Since we were Catholic's at the time our family was very proud to have a Catholic president and he was very popular with my Mom, Grandmother and Grandfather. My dad voted for Nixon but even he seemed stunned over the assassination.  Our family seemed to be glued to the television over the weeks to come watching Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, being assassinated himself on live television. We watched the funeral and I remember asking why the boots were in the stirrups backwards on the horse, my Grandfather explained that it was to honor our presidents death. I remember everyone crying when the slain presidents little boy saluted, it was just a very sad time.

The assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I also remember very vividly of where I was at that time but the mood and reaction was far different. I was eleven years old and it was in the evening hours and our family had gathered around the television to watch tv.  I was laying on the floor watching when the tv program was interrupted with a news bulletin. The news bulletin announced that Martin Luther King had been shot.  I was then startled by my dad who had jumped up from his chair and yelling a lot of disparaging words. The "N" word was used and my dad seemed to be over joyed with this news. My dad was so over joyed that he wanted to light off some fireworks in the front yard but my mom quickly talked him out of that.  That was the night I think the foundation of bigotry became clear to me. I loved my dad and still do but at that time I so idolized him and when I saw that this made my dad so happy it was confusing to say the least. To somewhat understand this is to know that living in Miami at that this time period (the sixties) was culturally very different from now.  Segregation was the law, separation of the races. If you ever saw the movie, "The Help" it portrayed exactly how I remember the South at that time. Everything and everyone lived separate lives. "Colored people" one of the terms used back then would have separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, schools and even movie theaters were segregated. Signs almost everywhere you looked designated the separation of the races. Like most communities they were divided by railroad tracks, "Colored people" living on one side and whites on the other. It was even unlawful for any African American to be on the white side of the tracks after sundown and it was unlawful for "mixed" dating. I can even remember a show, Star Trek and how it made the news and stirred up a big controversy, mainly in the South when the white actor, William Shatner kissed a black actress, Nichelle Nichols. Looking back then the world seemed so surreal now and makes me wonder how did humanity justify all of this. The road to break all of this up was a very turbulent time and to this day we still have remnants of systemic racism. Try to declare that Black Lives Matter and you literally can face death threats. My career in law enforcement exposed me to a nasty underbelly of racism that was diabolical and secretive. We still have this cancer in society and with the advent of cell phones with video cameras has exposed this beast. Yes we have come a long way from the old Jim Crow, but the underground racism is still alive and it's still very dangerous for our African American friends.

The good news is the racism that I was taught and exposed to was rejected and all that it implies. I will quickly call you out if you or anyone in my presence uses the "N" word or states anything racist. I still love and miss dad and my dad was a product of the times he lived in and the culture of the South. I know that that's not an excuse but I choose to share my story as a learning tool for breaking the teaching of racism. Your kids learn most of what they know from you and my parents showed me love and provided for me, I can only wish that my parents had showed love for humanity. We all have flaws, the trick is to learn from these experiences and make the adjustments in our lives to be better human being.