A Rainy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thanks to Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. we had the day off today. This day caused me to remember something from my past that had a huge impact on my life.



I was at Moore Elementary School in Des Moines Iowa and in Mr. Miller's third grade class. He was one of my most very favorite teachers. He was a very loving man and I learned a lot from him. He was African American and was very proud of his heritage. One day in February we walked into class and noticed a difference immediately. The brown eyed kids had a desk. The blue eyed kids sat on a chair in the back of the room. Now me being a blue eyed kid instantly wondered what was up. The day went on like that. The blue eyed kids had to write their spelling words multiple times each while the brown eyed kids got to go out for recess. The blue eyed kids had to get the brown eyed kids their lunch and only after the brown eyed kids were done, and on the playground, could we eat our lunch. Needless to say I was filled with a third graders rage. How could he treat us so unfairly? I had no idea what he was trying to do until the end of the day. He sat us down and explained things to us. What amazed me was how upset my brown eyed classmates were. We were justly upset about being treated badly solely for the color of our eyes, something we had absolutely no control over, but they were equally upset for watching their friends get treated that way. My life was forever altered that day. Come to find out this experiment originated in Iowa in 1968 by an elementary school teacher and documented by PBS. It was called A Class Divided. Since that day Mr. King's words..."judge a person by the content of his character, not the color of his skin" have been words I live by.



This Martin Luther King Jr. day has brought us more rain. In fact, it has been raining non stop for the past two days. Just like our traffic, our budget woes, and our plastic surgery rate, we Californians do nothing in moderation. Needless to say it has been horribly windy and rainy. I did get out in it today to go see an alumni for lunch and me driving in this crazy weather is a testament to how much I love my former student. Bella loves her too which is evident in her response to me asking her if she wanted to come with us. She said "what do YOU think, mom"



yeah can't wait for her to be 16.



We had a nice lunch and on the way home I only saw two cars crashed off the road. Californians really don't know how to handle this much rain. Gucci umbrellas, UGG boots, and convertibles aren't really built to withstand large amounts of rain. Plus most don't understand the saying - slow and steady wins the race.



That was my day. How about yours? What is a memory of racial inequality that you have?



Don't forget about my blogaversary giveaway...you can read about it here...it is about half-way through the post.

Maybe someday I'll actually figure out this whole blogging thing so you won't have to skim through a post to find out about a giveaway...


...and maybe someday people won't be judged based upon the color of their skin.



More Later

-A Ro