Many of you know Put On Your Climbing Shoes [PLAY SONG] was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's Mountaintop speech which he delivered in Memphis the day before he was assassinated. Our last day in town, we visited The Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel where that tragedy occured on April 4, 1968. Upon entering, we began by following a timeline with a summary of events along the age-old struggle for freedom, human dignity and equality, beginning with the 1600s, slavery, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation...
In 1968, Dr. King was in Memphis to demonstrate with and stand in solidary with sanitation workers (garbage truck workers, who were all black at the time and were paid so poorly that they could faithfully work hard all month and still qualify for welfare assistance) and their noble, non-violent demand to simply be treated with dignity and decency as men. Their simple assertion: "I
AM A MAN."
We peered into room 306, where Dr. King stayed. We stood where he was simply leaning over the balcony (about where the wreath is hung above) talking with friends, when a sniper shot him from the building across the way. We watched a film called
The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, which is from the perspective of his friend and compatriate Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kiles. In the film, Kiles describes what it was like to spend King's last hour with him and to be there in the moment of the shooting.
We learned from Kiles that the Mountaintop speech almost didn't happen. The night was stormy and Dr. King wasn't even going to go to the temple for the rally. But when Abernathy and Kiles entered and the packed crowd cheered, they knew the people were expecting King. They called him over and admist the banging of shudders from the great gusty winds, he delivered his impassioned, assuring call toward the "promised land" together. He talked quite a lot about death that night. Though he said "I *may* not get there with you...", he seemed to have a deep knowing that his time was nearing. So many death threats had been coming against him that he began to ask his friends to stop telling him about them.
I shook the shivers out as we stood in the room and nearly the spot where the sniper is suspected to have taken the shot. The weirdest part is that the evidence seems to show that the motivation was money - nothing more than cold, hard cash - not a personal desire to silence this powerful prophet who inspired masses to stand tall and move; not an interest in subverting the movement toward human dignity and economic equality; just personal gain for bounty in the pockets. To live out of such a cold and lonely isolation sounds like such a wretched existance to me. Lord, have mercy.
We also spent time in this gorgeous space with quite a story of it's own. It's incredible to hear how a grave and tragic death animated and stirred new life, fervent action, even change:
It was pretty cool to have the chance to share Put On Your Climbing Shoes here with a few hundred folks who all, in some way or another, care about the connection and intersection of peoples, who are interested in being a part of the movements of reconciliation, restoration, justice, mercy and humility.
The dream Dr. King articulated so well continues on and is surely fully alive. Yes, we celebrate the measures taken, the battles fought and won, but wow, it's evident to me even in the very city of Memphis, that there is much work to be done to bring us together, to truly live as One, to see decency as commonplace as dust in everyday life; for us all - in our words, choices and relationships - to co-create that space where each and every child of God has all they need - in nourishment and education and environment - to not only survive, but thrive and blossom and shine their light brightly for the benefit and blessings of all of us, for all the world.
"When stormy clouds are covering the summit view, remember how rainbows come in bloom: storm clounds, showers, thunder and drenching rain collide with sunshine rays of light to ribbons of colorful *change*. Put on your climbing shoes...take me with you to the mountaintop. Keep on climbing. We'll never stop...."
Love,
Heatherlyn
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