Why My Son Has a Profound Love for #MLK

by Kim D.

My son is 5 and is experiencing the wonderful and, at times, brutal life that is called kindergarten. On one hand, he loves the social aspect of school, yet, on the other, the constant drilling of sight words and math tables is something he could do without. In fact, my husband and I are considering holding him back for a K redo next year. Not because he cannot do the work (which is last year's 1st grade curriculum) but because his attitude is that "he's not about that life."

His educational spark is ignited when studying science and social studies. He loves experiments and learning about historical figures. When the subject of Martin Luther King was introduced, he came home and asked me more about who he was. My explanation was simplistic. He was a man who believed everyone should have equal rights, which went a little deeper than school instruction (see picture taken from work sent home).

That made total sense to my son but sparked a new controversy as to what rights MLK didn't have which was a tad bit more difficult to address. Not wanting to be politically correct, I simply laid it out for him. Many years ago, people who had black skin were looked down upon by some people with white skin, who didn't want black people on their buses, in their restaurants, or in their schools.

The school issue really interested him and he said, "You mean black people couldn't go to school?" I said, not to the schools white children attended, to which he simply said, "I wanna be one of those black people!" His bubble burst a bit when I told him that was one of the issues MLK fought for and today all children, regardless of color, can attend any school. After a moment of contemplation he said, "That's okay - I love Martin anyway. He's giving me a day off from school."