The Dreamers
I spent the MLK Day holiday at home, which, as I found out from a number of friends and colleagues, was a blessing.
I can’t believe the man made some of ya’ll go to work … you should’ve demanded freedom, ha ha.
Anyway, I digress. I was up watching an old Boondocks episode with a fellow dreamer Monday; ironically enough, we were watching the now-infamous MLK episode.
I say ‘infamous’ because the climax of the show came when Dr. King (who hadn’t died in this Boondocks episode, but instead spent an extended period of time in a coma, then woke up) told what he called a bunch of “ignorant (ninjas)” to “please shut (the heck) up!”
You have to see the episode for yourself, though, because it’s so much more than about a single charged comment, much like King’s life was about so much more than a single speech.
Another fun fact: did you know that the third Sunday in May is Malcolm X Day? I gotta be honest; it slipped my mind since those days I used to compete in Black History bowls.
Ah, good ol’ Black History month. You guys know how I feel about the logic behind BHM, so I’ll just speak on a conversation a fellow dreamer and I had about what happens when dreams die …
…well, kind of.
Not like Langston Hughes, though. We grew up reading Marvel Comics, and well, there are a few similarities with the X-Men and the dreams of Martin and Malcolm.
You see, for some reason, Marvel’s writers decided to kill Professor X, which to see seems like the equivalent of killing Dr. King, someone who represents passive resistance and good will.
X’s long-time ‘rival’ was Magneto, someone who represented advancement of the mutant race “by any means necessary”, someone who clashed with X at times because of their conflicting beliefs, yet respected and embraced X’s beliefs at times because of their past (they were friends as young adults) and the fact that they were looking for the same thing: a better life for their respective race. Unfortunately, the Marvel Universe is without both figures, who were … ‘rubbed out’ by writers.
Back to the present. This fellow dreamer and I have had clashes in the past concerning means to an end, but mostly work together where figures like King/X and Magneto/X (beautiful opposites there with X) mostly clashed.
He believes that the change, the uncertainty that will surely come with those Marvel figures dying is a good thing, that the same structure for an extended period of time didn’t inspire real growth.
I disagreed, saying that uncertainty shouldn’t come in one fell swoop, and uncertainty shouldn’t come in the midst of chaos.
Oh well. For all that dreamin’, and for all that philosophy, the good thing is that there’s birth.
For all of you that still read Marvel, Messiah Complex ends tomorrow, which will answer so many questions about what one child will become.
For all of you that keep up with the Kings, you know that MLK’s first grandchild was born recently, which will surely bring new questions of what one child will become.
A child’s potential? Limitless, I think.
And that’s certainty in the midst of chaos.
I can’t believe the man made some of ya’ll go to work … you should’ve demanded freedom, ha ha.
Anyway, I digress. I was up watching an old Boondocks episode with a fellow dreamer Monday; ironically enough, we were watching the now-infamous MLK episode.
I say ‘infamous’ because the climax of the show came when Dr. King (who hadn’t died in this Boondocks episode, but instead spent an extended period of time in a coma, then woke up) told what he called a bunch of “ignorant (ninjas)” to “please shut (the heck) up!”
You have to see the episode for yourself, though, because it’s so much more than about a single charged comment, much like King’s life was about so much more than a single speech.
Another fun fact: did you know that the third Sunday in May is Malcolm X Day? I gotta be honest; it slipped my mind since those days I used to compete in Black History bowls.
Ah, good ol’ Black History month. You guys know how I feel about the logic behind BHM, so I’ll just speak on a conversation a fellow dreamer and I had about what happens when dreams die …
…well, kind of.
Not like Langston Hughes, though. We grew up reading Marvel Comics, and well, there are a few similarities with the X-Men and the dreams of Martin and Malcolm.
You see, for some reason, Marvel’s writers decided to kill Professor X, which to see seems like the equivalent of killing Dr. King, someone who represents passive resistance and good will.
X’s long-time ‘rival’ was Magneto, someone who represented advancement of the mutant race “by any means necessary”, someone who clashed with X at times because of their conflicting beliefs, yet respected and embraced X’s beliefs at times because of their past (they were friends as young adults) and the fact that they were looking for the same thing: a better life for their respective race. Unfortunately, the Marvel Universe is without both figures, who were … ‘rubbed out’ by writers.
Back to the present. This fellow dreamer and I have had clashes in the past concerning means to an end, but mostly work together where figures like King/X and Magneto/X (beautiful opposites there with X) mostly clashed.
He believes that the change, the uncertainty that will surely come with those Marvel figures dying is a good thing, that the same structure for an extended period of time didn’t inspire real growth.
I disagreed, saying that uncertainty shouldn’t come in one fell swoop, and uncertainty shouldn’t come in the midst of chaos.
Oh well. For all that dreamin’, and for all that philosophy, the good thing is that there’s birth.
For all of you that still read Marvel, Messiah Complex ends tomorrow, which will answer so many questions about what one child will become.
For all of you that keep up with the Kings, you know that MLK’s first grandchild was born recently, which will surely bring new questions of what one child will become.
A child’s potential? Limitless, I think.
And that’s certainty in the midst of chaos.
posted by The Good Doctor at 1:26 AM
2 Comments:
Awww, that poor little baby with the weight of the world on his shoulders before he even had shoulders.
What happens if MLK's grandbaby grows up to be a drug dealer or "gang banger"? Would that be a failure of society? Of parents? Of schools? Of watching too much tv?
Can't his grandbaby live an unassuming life without having to worry about what granddaddy (or daddy) did or tried to do? In less contrary situations, what if the child decides to go to an HBCU (if they aren't destroyed in the next 18 years). Would he be letting down granddaddy's dreams of integration?
Further, why would we look to a child solely because of his heredity? What is it about the blood that flows through his veins that makes him more of a leader than you or I? Is it legitimacy that we expect the child to get by being given a certain surname? Does that mean we should have expected Bush II or Jeb to be just as good a leader as Daddy Bush because of the blood in their veins? Isn't that the point of the American form of (alleged) Democracy, to not rely on a hereditary system of governance or leadership?
Man, I'm glad I wasn't born a "King". Or [gasp], a Bush.
"For all of you that keep up with the Kings, you know that MLK’s first grandchild was born recently, which will surely bring new questions of what one child will become."
Well-said, friend. To be born with expectations is to be born as a child of Atlas, lol.
Hopefully, said expectations are manifestations of hope instead of manipulations in the ways of conformity.
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