It was wonderful to see the large turnout Monday for Ocean City’s annual celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The primary speeches were compelling, from the four Ocean City Intermediate School students to the powerful words of the Rev. Marcia Stanford, honoree Dr. Patrick Kane and the Rev. Gregory Johnson.
The essays by the young people – Sofia Wright, Kendall Barnes, Sydney Halliday and Gabriel Meron – provided the promise of our youngest generation looking at our society in a way Dr. King envisioned. Through their eyes we see a society far more accepting and fair than that of the generations who precede them.
From the other speakers, we see both the promise and the hard work that still needs to be done to fully achieve a dream that has gotten closer, but still remains out of grasp.
The past few years of political divisiveness has made it seem we have stepped backward on our march forward as a nation.
While there has been a great awakening of activism after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, there also has been a backlash from those who don’t want us to reflect on racial problems that plagued this nation since its founding – or to expose our children to it in schools.
There has to be a balance. Judging by the exceptially well written essays by our OCIS students, we believe our young people can and should learn, in an age-appropriate way, of the horrors and legacy of slavery through Jim Crow into issues that haven’t been fully resolved in contemporary society.
Seeing so many members of the community show up at the Ocean City Music Pier for the MLK celebration reveals the hunger people have for a society that lives up to Dr. King’s dream.
We can celebrate the progress made since the Civil Rights Movement leader’s assassination in 1968, but we also cannot be blind to the generational problems that remain to be overcome.
We adults preach from the classroom to the pulpit to the dinner table that the future is our children.
Better informed children become better informed adults.
We should not fear telling them the truth so they see the good and the bad parts of our history, the failings and successes, in ways they can understand.
That will help them make decisions – and in the future make policy – to ensure we keep bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice for everyone.