Every January, on the actual birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I think about if he were still alive, what would he think of American society and African American people.  It is a reflection that many people share as we mourn the wisdom and leadership that left the earth when he was assassinated. Rev. Dr. King remains famous, and he has rightly earned his place in American and world histories, but what about the deaths of our little known, yet much loved community members?

Recently, we lost a trio of women, Ms. Charlotte Rankin, Ms. Ida Thomas and Ms. Jeanie World.  All these good women gave to our community from their personal storehouses of professionalism and kindness. Ms. Charlotte was a retired teacher who travelled the world.  Ms. Ida was the first face that smiled at you when you visited Madison Urban Ministry (now its name is Just Dane. Ms. Jeanie World was an expert mender and genuinely so kind.

I am going to miss their conversations, their wit and the ways they could look at you and know more than you ever said with your mouth. Ms. Charlotte, from Kentucky, could tell you all about what to plant and exactly when. She was also a grandmother volunteer in Lincoln Elementary classrooms, and you would often see her moving up and down Park Street on her walker getting to where she wanted to go.

I worked with Ms. Ida for several years at a heartfelt job that had me looking for safe, adult volunteers to work with the children of incarcerated parents. Ms. Ida was another mother to us all. She had such humor and laughed most often at herself. Just Dane also works with recently released men and women from prison. Ms. Ida was particularly kind with those who needed her respect and care the most. I did not realize how much I missed her smiling face until I moved on to a job where the co-workers kept their faces smooth and bland and who did not greet or smile.

I met Ms. World years ago with other elders in the community. I have tried to remember what sewing she did for me, because I know that she did. She was good, and we sat and talked about how she started as a seamstress. I love that with all these elders, if you were willing to listen, they would willingly share with you. I heard of Ms. World’s passing on WORT because the announcer knew and respected Ms. World and this was the first time, I heard this news. In my own quiet way, I loved all these women, and my regret is not telling them more often than I did.  I wish I could say it to each of them one more time, but instead I send both my condolences and love to their family memories.

And what shall I say about Memphis, my childhood home?  When the news circulated around the country that five Black police officers had beaten a young Black man so severely that he died and later, they were recorded attempting to lie and blame the reason for the severe beating on the deceased young man, I was shocked. This mirrors the equally tragic death in California when an Asian elder who killed other Asian age mates celebrating the new Luna New Year Eve. Another Asian woman was reported as saying, “Now we are killing ourselves.”  Does not matter the reasons for these terrible catastrophes, what might Rev. Dr. King say about gun violence and the murders of innocent people at the hands of the same historically victimized people, turned into murderers?  He would be saddened by this evil, like we are.