[Ohio-talk] What A Memory

[Cheryl Fields]

Wow! Thanks for sharing this with us Wanda.
It's amazing how we remember events... experiencing the same event but
in the context of our personal lives.
I hope others will share... CF


On 4/6/18, Wanda Sloan via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Good story
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-Talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Smith,
> JW
> via Ohio-Talk
> Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 12:36 PM
> To: COMS_Fac (coms_fac at listserv.ohio.edu) <coms_fac at listserv.ohio.edu>;
> coms_grad <coms_grad at listserv.ohio.edu>; NFB of Ohio Announcement and
> Discussion List (ohio-talk at nfbnet.org) <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Smith, JW <smithj at ohio.edu>
> Subject: [Ohio-talk] What A Memory
>
> Fifty years ago today, I sat in my grandparents' bedroom watching the only
> television in the house with my family. It was a small set and we were
> watching an episode of the show Bewitched. I do not remember the episode,
> but I do remember that about halfway through the show, an announcer broke
> in
> and said, "I am sorry to have to tell you that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
> was shot in Memphis, Tennessee tonight." I remember as a nine-year-old
> child
> hearing the audible gasps of the adults, and then about 15 minutes later,
> another announcer said, "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died tonight".
>
> I was raised on the south side of Chicago in a very eclectic and diverse
> neighborhood and the houses were very close together. In fact, in some
> cases, you could almost reach out of the window of one house and touch your
> neighbor's house. It was a warm evening and most windows were opened,
> including ours, and I shall never forget the cries and the moans of my
> neighbors after the announcement of Dr. King's assassination. Most of the
> neighborhood gathered in the street, held hands, and comforted each other.
> There was such anguish and sadness that you could have cut with a knife.
> The
> next day, we were dismissed from school because of all of the violence in
> Chicago and we were told to kneel on the seats of our school buses in an
> attempt to avoid the random and rampant shooting that was occurring. I
> remember the National Guard in my neighborhood with machine guns set up on
> the corners of our streets. I shall never forget these memories and I shall
> never forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because of his voice, vision, and
> his commitment to his cause.
>
> Some will argue that we have yet to reach the Promised Land that he spoke
> about in his prophetic speech the night before his assassination, and still
> others would argue that his dream never came true, but as I sit here in my
> office at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio a blind and black boy from the
> south side of Chicago, I firmly believe that Dr. King would be proud of
> just
> how far we have come in many ways. Keep in mind, that during his lifetime,
> he had to endure separate but equal status of Americans, whites only
> swimming pools, park benches, bathrooms, water fountains, and even lunch
> counters. If a black person was walking down the sidewalk and a white
> person
> was approaching them, it was expected that the black person would step off
> of the sidewalk and let the white person pass, even if the streets were
> muddy and filled with puddles. I choose today to keep dreaming and to keep
> marching toward that Promised Land that Dr. King both saw and made reality.
>
> jw
>
> Dr. jw Smith
> School of Communication Studies
> Scripps College of Communication
> Ohio University
> Schoonover Center, Rm. 401
> Athens, OH 45701
> smithj at ohio.edu<mailto:smithj at ohio.edu>
> T: 740-593-4838
>
> If you see someone today without a smile, why don't you give them one of
> yours?
>
> My Bio<http://www.ohiocommstudies.com/people/smith/>
>
> Check out some of my music here<https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jwsmith22>
>
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-- 
Wishing You All the Best,

Cheryl E. Fields


A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human
life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will
never sit.
--D. Elton Trueblood