An Open Letter to Martin Luther King Jr.

Dear Sir,

I write to you on the 80th anniversary of your birth, from a different time and era from which you were raised, yet in the same America. Many have written to you already, but I know you will especially appreciate this correspondence. For I did not grow up in your time to march with you, nor was I beaten and sprayed by savage police. I am a young person, and I can only read and thank God for what you and my grandparents endured. Because of the commitment of your generation my world is better; many of the opportunities you "dreamed" about are taken for granted as normal in 2009.

But we have enough people to idolize you, so I won't belabor the real purpose of this letter. Your speech on the Capitol steps spoke of a wish for your four little children to grow up in a more equal world. To a great extent we have achieved this; we live in a society with black doctors, lawyers, and heads of state. There are women billionaires now, although we still struggle with poverty, good education, and rights for our beloved gay and disabled brothers and sisters. You'll be glad to know that our Dear Old Morehouse is still a factory for Renaissance leadership. It's a good time to be alive in the world.

But it is an interesting time, my brother. Just as you urged us to fight for justice and equality, you also indicted us to uphold peace, love, tolerance, care for the poor - you know, the gospel of Christ? - as our highest virtues. And I fear we have misunderstood you.

You were killed fighting for the economic rights of poor garbage workers. But as the poor became rich we also became Capitalists. We became entrepreneurs and made money our God. Now people don't care where they work as long as they make enough money doing it. You would be shocked to notice how many folks are miserable with their careers.

You also warned us to not try to imitate the success of others, or what you called "keeping up with the Joneses." Well, sorry about that. These are our icons: Jay-Z, Sean Combs, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Lebron - basically pop superstars (imagine how they felt about James Brown and Elvis, x20). We love them because they entertain us, but we want to be them because they are Rich. Youth are killing each other, drugs infest our streets, and the national debt is higher than ever. Because people want things. Our musicians are billboards; it's the type of music you'd laugh at, literally. We treat fashion designers like apostles (did you even know who made those tweed suits of yours?)

The newspaper business is dying because people don't read anymore. Instead, we "blog" and IM at the expense of community (Pastor Moss of Trinity UCC described this to you in his letter). We only see each other when we kick it.

Pastors are businessmen now. One very charismatic man will read the invocation for the InAuguration in a few days. His name is unimportant. Suffice it to say, you'd probably have some things to say to him as well. He doesn't dialogue with folks who disagree with him though; most people don't nowadays (everyone likes to think they are right).

We don't have many positive examples. Most of the smart ones that are worth a second look are also attention whores. They want to be celebrated for doing nothing. They plague our streets, churches, radio and media. So we don't listen to them. Sadly, we don't listen to our parents either; they are just as caught in it with us. Our next president is a welcome change to the usual "worthless personality" we follow, although I fear many are making him an idol like they did you. You see, Dr. King, we're just looking for a change and don't want to be it ourselves. We don't know what to make of folks like you.

And we don't know what to make of this world. Oscar Grant, Gaza, Darfur, The Hudson family...we aren't even shocked anymore. Most of us don't even know what's going on (instead of the news we were flipping between "Real Chance...", "Real Housewives", or something else not real). We would listen to NPR, but the Cool Kids are on Power92 talking about Buzz Lightyear. You have to make choices sometimes...

We are as talented as ever, still the people of God's promise, but we have cast our pearls among swine. I'll be honest, it's not a drinking problem or a pornography problem but a conformity problem. We'd rather fit in than stand out and use our blessings to heal this world. We're a sad bunch to look at, and your generation is right to scorn us. But we have potential. Work together, maybe?

Why don't we do this: You help us find one person from your generation who isn't stuck on themselves, irrelevant, or full of crap, and we'll send out one of ours who doesn't want to be the next coming of Richie Rich. You make sure yours isn't wearing bellbottoms and we'll make sure ours isn't wearing tight jeans or some ironic t-shirt. And we'll meet in the middle of Everywhere We Need Help. We'll fight for the dignity of our families, our culture, and ourselves. We'll be patient and dedicated. We'll pick up a few good people to help along the way (we may even pick a few Christians, you never know) and we'll renew this kingdom of God on Earth. I'll work on the music side, and you whisper something in Jesse's ear (there's a song, "Can't Tell Me Nothing"...it was written about him). We'll get there. It's the only place to be.

Your brother and peer,

Min. Julian DeShazier
"J.Kwest"

P.S. - I'll be thinking about you on Tuesday