One of the earliest childhood memories I have is of my brother and I playing in our back yard and hearing a terrifying shriek and crying coming from the kitchen where my mum was cooking.
We both dashed inside ” Mum what’s the matter , have you hurt yourself” I asked. Between sob’s and pitiful tears she began to explain how a man who stood up for the rights of black people had been murdered by racist.
We were very young and did not fully understand the politics of the time, but that moment as we both tried to comfort her has never left me.
Now nearly 50 years later there are still serious racial problems not just in America but worldwide and perhaps some of these problems will never be eradicated, in 50 years time we may have made as much progress has we have in the last 50 years, but the act of observing the birthday of such a great man may in itself bring about our acceptance of the past and the roles our governments, both America and Great Britain, have played in it.
A Black Perspective 