MLK Did Not Wear A Hoodie

There is a picture that is circulating around the media that features Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wearing a black hoodie.  That picture prompted me to further research this great man.  After doing so I have concluded Dr. King would have NEVER worn a hoodie!

I was only a young child when Dr. King participated in the Civil Rights movement of the sixties.  I was barely three years old when he organized the historic march on our nation’s capital with a peaceful demonstration demanding justice for all.  I watched the video of his moving “I have a dream” speech.  I looked through the sea of people who were there, black and white, coming together for a common cause.

I listened as he cautioned the nation about overlooking the urgency of the moment, about remembering the passion represented there that day and not going back to “business as usual” without initiating a change for the better.

I was enlightened as he implored those of color to not be guilty of doing wrongful deeds in the process of gaining freedom from inequality. I saw him warn them not to drink of the cup of bitterness and hatred, but to take the “high plane of dignity and discipline”, never allowing violence to enter into the struggle.

I saw his evangelical style of preaching crescendo as he prophetically cried,” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

I was moved when he finished with his “Let freedom ring” chorus, ending with, “And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

No… I am certain; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would never have worn that hoodie.  NEVER!