Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Two things to read....
On April 5, 1968 my wife and I woke up early to a near perfect day. Intense green grasses with limestone trout streams covered the rolling hills all around our motel. We were staying in a small town in Lancaster County, Pa. enjoying a brief spring break while the kids stayed in Pittsburgh with their aunt and uncle. Soft sunshine coming through mist greeted us when we pushed aside the motel curtain. We got some coffee and plenty of donuts from the office and sat on the beds in front of the TV. A solemn face told us that Martin Luther King Jr had been shot and had died in Memphis the night before.
We got into our car where we heard reports on the car radio of overnight disturbances in York, Pa. It was hard to believe that idyllic York, Pa. was warning their citizens to stay in their houses. The only thing we could find open so early in the morning was an Amish shop and diner. There was no one in the restaurant. In a back room we could hear fervent voices of Amish men talking about the troublemaker who got his just rewards. These bearded men were pretty worked up about the upheaval the death of this radical man might bring to their peaceful community.
I approached them and listened to their thoughts. They shared the vast majority of American’s view at that time, that MLK Jr was asking too much and presented a threat to life as we knew it. I told them that back in Detroit we looked at him quite differently and that for us Martin was a great man and like them was a nonviolent Christian who had made America a better place with his powerful voice for good. They thanked me for telling them about Dr King. The Amish are gentle people. They generally stay out of public affairs as they desire to avoid being “polluted” by the sin they see as rampant in the modern world. Where the heck did they get the idea that Martin Luther King Jr had a dangerous message? We listened to local Christian radio in the car and then we knew.
