By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/writer
“I know I don’t belong, and there’s nothing that I can do. I was born too late, and I’ll never be like you.”~ From “Born Too Late,” The Poni-Tails, 1986
January 15, 2024
A Proclamation on Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2024
THE WHITE HOUSE
Today, we reflect on the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and recommit to honoring his moral vision on the path to redeeming the soul of our Nation.
The anniversary of assassinations in America brings forth bitter memories of things that weren’t supposed to happen. When one was born brings closer a special sense of history.
Today as I remind myself of the afternoon in 1968 when an assassin’s bullet struck down Dr. Martin Luther King, and that “We must continue Dr. King’s march forward by choosing democracy over autocracy and a ‘Beloved Community’ over chaos,” as called for by President Joe Biden.
Five years earlier, as I was parking my car at work, a woman yelled, “President Kennedy’s been shot!” Again, I had been born to experience the emotions in 1963, when America was said to have “lost its innocence.”
The median age of American citizens is 37, meaning more than 180 million were people had not been born when JFK and Dr. King were killed. So, this is written specifically for those at Rose Law Group who I work for because most of them were born too late to have experienced a long list of historic events.
I am not pulling age-rank, nor am I saying young people have, so far, lived boring lives—far from it, of course. It is solely to say they can look forward to their own long list 50 years from now to pass on to the unborn.
What has occurred in America and what is ahead are a far distance from the top 10 historic events in my life:
- WWII
- Vietnam
- Alaska and Hawaii statehoods
- Civil Rights Act
- John Kennedy assassination
- Bobby Kennedy assassination
- Martin Luther King assassination
- First men on the moon
- Watergate, Nixon resignation
- Roe v Wade
You and I can look forward with hope there will be no more wars, no more assassinations, no more presidential scandals, and no more legal rulings that divide our nation.
Let’s work for a list for 2050 that includes:
- Cancer cures
- Relatively worldwide peace
- Competent governance; Political statesmanship
- A nation powered by 80% alternative energy sources
- Respect for the English language
- Perspective of sports in society
- Return to music genius of the ‘60s
- Healthcare affordable for all
- Drastic reductions in poverty, homelessness, hunger
- Responsible social and news media
For these and more items in America’s bucket list, you were not born too late.
