MLK Parade in Charlotte

Last Saturday, January 17, 2015, I attended the parade in Charlotte to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  After watching the festivity, I have been reflecting for a day or two on those celebrations, while viewing some pics that I snapped there.

This reflection ends with a song I recorded in 1978 about the visionary Dr. King: “Mountaintop”

As a white man who grew up in Mississippi and Louisiana in the 1950’s and ’60’s, I want to express to you what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. meant to me, and correlate my expression with images of some of the people I saw two days ago in that parade in downtown Charlotte. What I am seeing is this:

A prophet who saw what needed to happen, then acted effectively to make in happen.

A man who walked, successfully, a tightrope between violent comrades on one side and non-violent believers on the other.

A builder, who built a bridge of provision and good will between those who have and those who had not.

A drum major for justice

A man who did try, in his life, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and forge new opportunity for those who had none.

A man who strove to make a way where there was no way

A man whose hope for mankind has outlasted the injustice that put him in an early grave.

A man whose love for mankind has overcome the evil that men do.

An effective Christian antidote to a world infected by people who had perfected the practice of hate.

A reverent Christian response to a world populated by people who had rejected a loving God.

A servant of the Lord,

A man of peace,

A Christian,

a sinner saved by grace.

A visionary.

This is only a small part of Dr. King’s legacy.

Tags: bands, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drum major for justice, education, justice, Macedonia Church, marching bands, MLK day, opportunity, parade, progress, Stop the Violence, West Charlotte High School band