The Spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. fought hard, long, and strong for a culture of people and eventually for all people. He is the most prominent man in the history of civil rights. Unfortunately not all respect his legacy. Even on his birthday we kill, fight and argue like he didn’t risk his life so that we could have rights and privileges. Young and old seem to forget what he did to help all. It seems that we all have forgotten to turn the “DREAM” into reality. “ROBBERY” Story by David Aponte “What’s up Paul,” said Thomas as he approached P’s house. “Yo what’s up?” P knew his boy probably was up to something and he couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. “Hey man you got some weed?” P shook his head no. “No man my mother just left to go to work and she didn’t have any money. I tried to see if she had any in her pocketbook but she only had enough for bus fare.” “Well man I got a gun so let’s go to the liquor store and stick them up so we can get some weed.” “Let’s do it,” said P anxiously. P and T had been friends since elementary school. Neither had their father around and since they were both had no other siblings they were like brothers. Unfortunately through the years while getting in trouble they also developed a habit that they couldn’t kick. They approached B&A and noticed that there was no one outside and as they got closer they noticed no one was inside either. “Man this gone be easy you ready to get this money?” asked T as he pulled the ski mask over his head. P was definitely nervous as he was every time they decided to rob someone. “Let’s get it.” “Give it up nigga,” yelled T as he aimed the .45 at the young clerks head. “Man please don’t shoot, I’m just trying to make money to pay for school. Here is everything man just please don’t kill me, please,” the young man begged. All the while P had a sick feeling about this robbery that he never had during any other robbery. P grabbed the bag of money and motioned for T to follow him out. Instead T lowered his gun to the young man’s chest and fired. P didn’t miss a beat as he ran all the way home and didn’t look back once to see if T was behind him. T was right behind his boy and didn’t think twice about he did. I don’t care if that nigga going to school trying to get his life right. Mine already messed up, now I can throw somebody else life off balance. P was a little shaken but he knew by the time they got their hands on a bag he wouldn’t care anymore. They didn’t care whose life they may have ended or whose family they just put in a crisis. They didn’t care that they just possibly committed murder. “Man this is some show nuff fire,” T said as he choked and coughed. He hit the blunt one more time before he passed it to his boy who was already high out of his mind and almost asleep. “T man you go ahead and kill it and save some of that for tomorrow. I’m bout to head to the house and lay it down for the night.” “Alright man be safe call me in the morning.” P put two fingers up and walked out of the door. P only lived two blocks away from T and decided to cut through the alley that would take him directly to his crib. As he got halfway down the alley he stumbles and falls flat on his face. He rolled over to his back and rubbed his throbbing nose. As he focused his eyes on the smoke forming around his he got very nervous. “You are a disgrace and disgust to our kind. I sacrificed my life and the life of my children. You are in big trouble son and it’s only going to get worse if you continue down this path of nothing.” There in the spirit was Martin Luther King Jr. P thought back to what he did learn in school and thought about the respect he had for MLK. He thought about how the four little girls in Alabama were murdered and how MLK quickly responded even when residents of Birmingham blamed him for their deaths. He thought about the March on Washington and the “I Have a Dream” speech. He couldn’t say anything. All he could do was look into his eyes and ask for mercy through them. “You are wasting your life on things that don’t mean anything. As we speak that young man your friend shot is fighting for his life in the hospital, and do you know what his mother is doing? Crying, crying because of what your friend just did. You need to see what I mean because I don’t think you understand.” P wanted to comment but he had so much respect that he just listened. MLK explained what he and others did to make today a better place for others. He explained his life, his dream and how it was not wasted when he died. He explained that he died for all people not just black people. P wanted to cry and beg for forgiveness. MLK didn’t have to say anything else to P, he knew by P’s body language that he understood and had the capability to change. “Son change is in you, you just have to pull it out and display it. Remember actions speak louder than words.” With those words he was gone. P felt compelled to pray to God and ask for forgiveness. He sat there in the alley for a few minutes just staring at the spot where MLK just was. He went home and lay down but couldn’t sleep. He thought the whole night about what MLK said. He was actually happy that this happened to him. The next morning he could not wait to see T. He walked down that same alley towards his friend’s house and hoped he was outside. Sure enough T was on the block joking with some of their boys. “Man let me talk to you for a minute,” said P as he approached. “Alright let’s go over here away from the fellas this sounds serious.” “You would not believe what happened to me last night.” “What the police stopped you or something?” “Naw nothing like that, well something like that. MLK appeared to me last night.” “Yeah right. Man you smoked too much of that stuff,” said T laughing at his best friend. P angrily replied, “No man I’m serious, you should have been there.” T cut him off and replied, “Man I don’t want to hear this stuff no more, you going with us and stop this craziness you talking or what?” P looked, See book for more