MLK

What a gorgeous morning we had today.  My drive to work only took 15 minutes due to the lack of traffic for MLK day.  I'm so glad we have a day to remember a man who changed our country in such a profoundly positive way.  MLK was inspired by Gandhi's non violent activism, and that's probably the only way the civil rights movement had any chance at success.  Those years were ugly enough but they most certainly would have been much uglier if the movement had been started by any other person besides him.  We are greatly indebted to he and his courage.

This past Saturday we spent the evening with a person who at the end of the night said,"I don't really like blacks, my friends are not going to believe I spent the evening dancing and listening to an albino black man"!!  Really?  Are you kidding me?  This guy is a brother in law of a friend, Derek, that Misty grew up with.  Two years ago he, his wife and son came to Austin and rented a house on Lake Travis.  We had a good time with them before and looked forward to partying with them again.  Saturday night the plan was to see Carolyn Wonderland, an Austin musician with a big following whom we hadn't seen before but put on an outstanding show.  She reminded us a lot of  Janis Joplin (oddly enough, Saturday was Janis Joplin's 70th birthday).  The main draw was Malford Milligan, a longtime Austin blues singer who fronted one of our all time favorite bands, Storyville and also happens to be a black albino. They are special to Misty and I because we both associate their music to when we first started dating.  I copied the following from the editorial page of the newspaper.  It's the end of his last speech.  It's almost like he knew what was coming later that day.

“We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you.

“But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”