Simple Things/ Lang Kenneth Haynes
Courage
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was undeniably courageous. I've said many times that Dr. King possessed more courage in the pinky of either
hand than I have in my entire body. Snarling dogs terrify me. The police officers who sometimes held them back scared me even more. I
don't like to see blood on television and I really don't like seeing and feeling my own. I don't like hard objects applied to my head with
force.
It shouldn't surprise me, but it does that many courageous Americans who risked their lives so that others could be free were
considered anti-American. Isn't freedom supposed to be what America stands for? Several of these courageous people can now be
found on United States of America postage stamps. If that isn't the height of hypocrisy I don't know what is. It's difficult to imagine the
courage and other positive aspects of these illustrious people being extolled while they were alive. Please don't get me wrong. Stamps
and commemorative stamps are wonderful things. Stamps are or used to be things that we used every day. Stamps are a way to weave
Black people into the fabric of America. Stamps tell the world that we exist.
Paul Robeson had a stamp issued in his honor. A book was given to me, by a very dear person, sometime in the 1980s. The book was
filled with photos of Paul Robeson, but one picture stands out in my mind and memory. In it, Mr. Robeson is seen talking to a group of
white boys. It appears that the picture was taken at a summer camp. I don't know what Paul Robeson was talking about but the boys
were mesmerized. You could see it in their eyes. I found the photo to be so compelling that I made a copy of it. I shared it at various
meetings in the community and in the offices of government. I explained that I wished I had awareness of Paul Robeson when I was in
elementary and junior high school. I wish I had known that he spoke fifteen languages, earned a law degree, was a fine actor, a more
than accomplished singer, a marvelous athlete and that the warring factions in the Spanish Civil War stopped fighting on the day that
Paul Robeson spoke and sang to the soldiers. Paul Robeson was acknowledged world wide as a person who was committed to doing
everything in his power to see that his fellow human beings were regarded and treated fairly and equally. At first, I thought how I was
deprived of the gentle and steady strength of Paul Robeson. Then I realized that other Black males were never shown that kind of
courage and strength. Then I refocused on the photo and realized the importance of white young people's exposure to people like Paul
Robeson. Then I became slightly irate when it settled in on me that we have all been cheated. We have all — to varying degrees — been
denied the presence of people like Paul Robeson. But he's on a stamp.
W.E.B. Du Bois was a courageous person. So were Harriet Tubman and John Brown and Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth and Gandhi.
Some took different paths but the final destination was never in question and freedom was that destination. It's a wonderful thing to
honor those who have made enormous sacrifices to ensure the freedom of their brothers and sisters. But let us not overlook those who
walk among us today who try in their own ways to bring freedom and liberation to us all. They are not on stamps. There may be nothing
named in their honor. You might have bumped into one of them this morning at the local supermarket or stood on line in front of them in
the city clerk's office. Some may be your fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, cousins, nieces or nephews.
Maybe one purpose that awards serve is that the recipients appear to be a little beyond our grasp. After all, it can be very difficult to see
things that are held too closely. It can be hard to see the courage in a mother, father or sibling. It can be almost impossible to see
ourselves as possibly courageous. One irony is that it is possible that the truly courageous people among us are within our collective
grasp and easy to see if we open our eyes and look.
We don't need to wait to see their likenesses on postage stamps. We don't need to wait until they are dead or diluted to the point that they
no longer pose threats to the status quo. And remember that if the status quo is the one-percent then you are part of the ninety-nine
percent whether you know it or not. Even a poor math student knows that 99 to 1 is a lopsided equation, but the problems of this earth
can be solved. There is plenty for everybody. Abundant wealth. Staggering natural resources. Plentiful human resources. Ridiculous
amounts of food. The challenge is to make the equation right. The challenge is to share. The challenge is to not hoard.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it better than I could ever hope to when he said:
All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single
garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until
you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of
reality.
I urge you to take a look around Madison and Dane County — or wherever you might happen to be — and do what you can reasonably do
to make the planet a better place to live. There is plenty to do. This is not the time to sit back, prop your feet up and watch the world go
by. There has never been nor will there ever be such a time.
You might be thinking that you are too small to undertake the enormity of the world's problems and you could very well be accurate in
your assessment. A good way to start would be to get the juices of freedom and justice flowing again by participating in area events
designed to honor and commemorated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you do this one thing, I promise that you will never feel
lonely again. Will it take courage to change our thinking from I can't to I can? Yes. And we are blessed with the wonderful and powerful
example of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and maybe even the person in line ahead of us in the supermarket check-out line.
hand than I have in my entire body. Snarling dogs terrify me. The police officers who sometimes held them back scared me even more. I
don't like to see blood on television and I really don't like seeing and feeling my own. I don't like hard objects applied to my head with
force.
It shouldn't surprise me, but it does that many courageous Americans who risked their lives so that others could be free were
considered anti-American. Isn't freedom supposed to be what America stands for? Several of these courageous people can now be
found on United States of America postage stamps. If that isn't the height of hypocrisy I don't know what is. It's difficult to imagine the
courage and other positive aspects of these illustrious people being extolled while they were alive. Please don't get me wrong. Stamps
and commemorative stamps are wonderful things. Stamps are or used to be things that we used every day. Stamps are a way to weave
Black people into the fabric of America. Stamps tell the world that we exist.
Paul Robeson had a stamp issued in his honor. A book was given to me, by a very dear person, sometime in the 1980s. The book was
filled with photos of Paul Robeson, but one picture stands out in my mind and memory. In it, Mr. Robeson is seen talking to a group of
white boys. It appears that the picture was taken at a summer camp. I don't know what Paul Robeson was talking about but the boys
were mesmerized. You could see it in their eyes. I found the photo to be so compelling that I made a copy of it. I shared it at various
meetings in the community and in the offices of government. I explained that I wished I had awareness of Paul Robeson when I was in
elementary and junior high school. I wish I had known that he spoke fifteen languages, earned a law degree, was a fine actor, a more
than accomplished singer, a marvelous athlete and that the warring factions in the Spanish Civil War stopped fighting on the day that
Paul Robeson spoke and sang to the soldiers. Paul Robeson was acknowledged world wide as a person who was committed to doing
everything in his power to see that his fellow human beings were regarded and treated fairly and equally. At first, I thought how I was
deprived of the gentle and steady strength of Paul Robeson. Then I realized that other Black males were never shown that kind of
courage and strength. Then I refocused on the photo and realized the importance of white young people's exposure to people like Paul
Robeson. Then I became slightly irate when it settled in on me that we have all been cheated. We have all — to varying degrees — been
denied the presence of people like Paul Robeson. But he's on a stamp.
W.E.B. Du Bois was a courageous person. So were Harriet Tubman and John Brown and Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth and Gandhi.
Some took different paths but the final destination was never in question and freedom was that destination. It's a wonderful thing to
honor those who have made enormous sacrifices to ensure the freedom of their brothers and sisters. But let us not overlook those who
walk among us today who try in their own ways to bring freedom and liberation to us all. They are not on stamps. There may be nothing
named in their honor. You might have bumped into one of them this morning at the local supermarket or stood on line in front of them in
the city clerk's office. Some may be your fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, cousins, nieces or nephews.
Maybe one purpose that awards serve is that the recipients appear to be a little beyond our grasp. After all, it can be very difficult to see
things that are held too closely. It can be hard to see the courage in a mother, father or sibling. It can be almost impossible to see
ourselves as possibly courageous. One irony is that it is possible that the truly courageous people among us are within our collective
grasp and easy to see if we open our eyes and look.
We don't need to wait to see their likenesses on postage stamps. We don't need to wait until they are dead or diluted to the point that they
no longer pose threats to the status quo. And remember that if the status quo is the one-percent then you are part of the ninety-nine
percent whether you know it or not. Even a poor math student knows that 99 to 1 is a lopsided equation, but the problems of this earth
can be solved. There is plenty for everybody. Abundant wealth. Staggering natural resources. Plentiful human resources. Ridiculous
amounts of food. The challenge is to make the equation right. The challenge is to share. The challenge is to not hoard.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it better than I could ever hope to when he said:
All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single
garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until
you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of
reality.
I urge you to take a look around Madison and Dane County — or wherever you might happen to be — and do what you can reasonably do
to make the planet a better place to live. There is plenty to do. This is not the time to sit back, prop your feet up and watch the world go
by. There has never been nor will there ever be such a time.
You might be thinking that you are too small to undertake the enormity of the world's problems and you could very well be accurate in
your assessment. A good way to start would be to get the juices of freedom and justice flowing again by participating in area events
designed to honor and commemorated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you do this one thing, I promise that you will never feel
lonely again. Will it take courage to change our thinking from I can't to I can? Yes. And we are blessed with the wonderful and powerful
example of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and maybe even the person in line ahead of us in the supermarket check-out line.