The 60’s: Chapter 17

Victoria Easterday
Aug 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Memorial for Dr. King

Martin Luther King was a true-blue hero.

His deep and enduring commitment in the fight for Civil Rights and his call for peaceful, civil disobedience were a source of unending inspiration and hope for our nation.

His example taught my tribe how to conduct ourselves as we entered into`` the madness and mayhem of the anti-war movement.

On the evening of April 5th we had a fire at my camp site. Everyone (about 15 people) brought, candles, incense, mountain flowers and other offerings to the gathering.

We wanted to properly honor this precious and courageous man. The absence of his great presence was deeply felt by all of us and our grieving country.

Dr. King's death, was yet another bond that brought us closer to each other. His passing was one of many experiences that bound many of us inextricably to the times we were living in.

While standing by the fire, one of the guys read a passage from the I Have a Dream speech.

And when this (freedom) happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring, from every village, and every hamlet, from every state, and every city, we will be able to speed up that day, when all Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics: will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Martin Luther King, August 28th, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

On that damp and cold evening we embraced each other. We tried to warm our bodies and our hearts as we hunkered around the warmth of the small, flickering fire that burned in the center of our circle.

With the fire reflecting onto our faces we clasped each other and cried. Not with wailing; the tears simply drooled down our cheeks as we grieved as best we could in that tender time of our youth and inexperience.

In that one terrible act the times of our childhood were gone. They were swept away into a past that was no longer real to us.

We had never needed each other as badly as we did in that horrible and heartbroken moment.

The miasma of the gathering darkness came one step closer to our lives. It was coming and it would ultimately stomp out the light of our sweet and fragile luminescence.

)

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