Erik and I embarked upon the 2007 MLK Jr. Walk from Oak Park to the Convention Center Downtown. It was a total of 5.75 miles (my measurements) or 5.60 miles (Erik's measurements). We were sure to bring our morning fuel as well as beanies and gloves. It was cold, but not too bad.
There was a large crowd ready to march Downtown. There were old and young folks and I would say that people were definitely respectful and cool with each other as there was a good personable vibe present. Some people had signs, some people sang, but most simply talked as they walked.
Erik strikes a pose here.
This MLK poster below shows up everywhere. In fact, when I was a teacher in 2002-2003, I purchased this one in the beginning of the year and made sure it was hanging throughout the course of the school year. By the way, while teaching, I wanted to decorate my room with other ethnic backgrounds beyond just white, but it was actually a challenging task to find people of color represented on posters when purchasing supplies from a store in Elk Grove. Food for thought, huh?
And we ran into Phil Angeledas too. And now since we have met him, we are on a first name basis and can therefore rightly refer to him as Phil. I shook his hand and told him how I voted during the past election. After that, we made sure to snap a couple of shots with him. Of course, "Phil" likely didn't know we were taking pictures, but that was the fun part.
This MLK poster below shows up everywhere. In fact, when I was a teacher in 2002-2003, I purchased this one in the beginning of the year and made sure it was hanging throughout the course of the school year. By the way, while teaching, I wanted to decorate my room with other ethnic backgrounds beyond just white, but it was actually a challenging task to find people of color represented on posters when purchasing supplies from a store in Elk Grove. Food for thought, huh?
And we ran into Phil Angeledas too. And now since we have met him, we are on a first name basis and can therefore rightly refer to him as Phil. I shook his hand and told him how I voted during the past election. After that, we made sure to snap a couple of shots with him. Of course, "Phil" likely didn't know we were taking pictures, but that was the fun part.
And here is Erik and Phil.
We also ran into Ana, Erik's bride, so that was nice.
We also ran into Ana, Erik's bride, so that was nice.
We dubbed this car as "The Jesus Mobile" since it was decorated quite fervently with scripture and figurines and such.
And here is the hood of The Jesus Mobile with a Precious Moments hood ornament.
Random signage while walking.
Yes, we did get very hungry while marching on. At the end of the march, we were graced with free coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, and calendars, courtesy of the office of Mayor Heather Fargo. Nice.
Overall, it was neat to see so many people dedicated to walking on their day off. This shows that folks of many colors and classes still value the ideals of MLK Jr. And the truth is that the hard work of bridging the still existent gaps of racism and classism can be achieved and the most simple way to begin that work is to build respectful relationships with others who are different than us and then work from there.
And that's it.
And here is the hood of The Jesus Mobile with a Precious Moments hood ornament.
Random signage while walking.
Yes, we did get very hungry while marching on. At the end of the march, we were graced with free coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, and calendars, courtesy of the office of Mayor Heather Fargo. Nice.
Overall, it was neat to see so many people dedicated to walking on their day off. This shows that folks of many colors and classes still value the ideals of MLK Jr. And the truth is that the hard work of bridging the still existent gaps of racism and classism can be achieved and the most simple way to begin that work is to build respectful relationships with others who are different than us and then work from there.
And that's it.
By the way, THIS book as pictured below, is great. It contains 679 pages of essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
1 comment:
Hey, that's Ana. Schaweet!
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