Knights Before The King
By
Amir Timur

There is a story about a little black boy that grew up on the tail end of segregation, at a time when Black American’s where fighting still for equality from living in constant oppression. But the story of this particular little boy took place in the Nation’s Capitol of Washington, DC. He was born in 1962, amongst two sister and a younger brother. They had lived prior to the riots of 1968 in a predominately Black community. And the stories upon seeing such flames and attacks where amazing in ways that he had never seen so many grand protest echoing from the spirit of his people so much, and they had a King, that was leading the way, leading the way to a place where the King stated, “where a man would be judge by the contents of his character and not by the color of his skin.”

The King further stated that; “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” The King in the little boys eyes, was a leader come to share mercy for his people that had been through so many killings, lynching’s, raping, and crimes against another human being simply because of the color of their skin.

The King also stated; “... even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream ... it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream ... I have a dream ... that one day ... this nation will rise up ... and live out the true meaning of its creed ... we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal ... I have a dream ... that one day on the red hills of Georgia ... sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners, will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood, I have a dream ... that one day ... even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression ... will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice, 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 have a dream today ... I have a dream that one day ... down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification ... one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers, I have a dream today ... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together …” the King had this dream and announced it to the entire world.

The little black boy is now a man, having seen the life styles of his people grow into more games of chance, instead of those of dignity, where black on black crimes are now the latest in domestic malice. And the justice system rape the land to fill up its prisons with many useless crimes and the majority of its prisoners are Black men and women. For money not for reform. Children are attending schools and leaving with no real education, illiteracy is so high, how many children and teens do you know of that cant read?. Health care is leading to more deaths because the poor can not afford them, whereas AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are now epidemics.Poverty in the communites, homeless and starving families in contrast to the elderly being constantly over looked. Sky rocketing expenses the cost of living causing controversies. While the plights of rap music have taken an animalistic concept far away from the words of this war will not be televised. Lifestyles of Black people have become those of lies and deceitfulness, sexual deviations and irresponsible mother’s and father’s, whereas parenthood is nothing than sitting a child before a tv screen. For the King, he left principles that should be exulted “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” he further stated; “ Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness-nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The little black boy now a man, a follower of the King’s plan, although his road has been shaky and seem quite odd for some, his goal is to reverberate a plan that would affect anyone directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. Today I shout to my people today, the man now exclaims;” Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control. The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. In conclusion the man states; “If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.” Come let's go after our promised land, the King’s plans are not dead…nor is his dream. Let’s us be Knights before our King.