Passing the Baton

[sheshe2]

As we prepare to celebrate Martin Luther King Day tomorrow, it strikes me that this is the first time in my adult life that we do so while another civil rights movement is underway. As Carla Murphy writes at ColorLines, that is causing some expected tensions.

It’s nearly six months since white police officer Darren Wilson killed 18-year-old, unarmed civilian Michael Brown in Ferguson, a St. Louis, Mo. suburb. There and around the country, the fatal shooting released a pressure valve of outrage about brutal and racist policing in black communities. Nationwide, people have marched, camped out in parking lots, blocked highway traffic, died in, sung in and even interrupted bourgie brunch. But to what end? What’s next?

Many are calling the Brown protests (and those about the fatal police chokehold of 40-year-old Staten Island father Eric Garner) “a new civil rights movement.” But as new, creative actions crop up to expand the common cry, #BlackLivesMatter, from the street to other areas of civic life, they’re butting up against the legacy and perceived perfection of the old movement. That 60-year halo burns bright not just for Boomers but ordinary Millennials, too.

The reason I suggest that this kind of tension is "expected" is because any movement for social change requires that previous generations pass the baton on to a new generation. The situation we face today bears the seeds of the issues tackled in Martin Luther King's era, but it's not the same.

Passing the baton to a new generation requires a very difficult letting go process. Rev. Gordon Stewart (who marched with MLK) expressed that beautifully when he wrote his about his reaction to the 2008 inauguration of President Barack Obama.

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/01/passing-baton.html

This is a very good read.