blessed Martin pastor prophet
We celebrated Martin Luther King day in song this morning. With four MLK- and civil-rights-related songs, we were able to think about a few of the important aspects of Kings life and of the broader movement. (We also sang "All the Little Fish", because of overwhelming demand from the audience.) That was the extent of our lessons today—I planned to do a little more, but then we were invited on an indoor sports date, so we lost the rest of our school time. But that's fine: I love Dr. King and am always excited to celebrate his day, but we really need to talk about civil rights every day, not just one Monday in January. So we'll do a little more more tomorrow.
Generally, our curriculum is pretty heavy on anti-racist, anti-colonialist, anti-dominant-power narratives anyhow. We love the Little House books, but we always make sure to talk about how Laura's descriptions of the Indians are totally a product of the prejudices of her day. Our Thanksgiving lessons give equal time to the perspectives of the Wampanoag people. And don't get me started on Columbus! We haven't talked much yet about the specifics of the African American experience, but you can bet what we have done so far hasn't been the slightest bit equivocal about the awfulness of the reality of slavery and segregation, or the fact that as white folks we still have lots to do to even begin to make amends and make things right.
Which is to say, my thoughts from 12 years ago still stand. Good heavens, we've been blogging a long time.