On Monday, January 16, 2006 I was listening to KTRS 550 AM (St. Louis). I wanted to experience something new, as I usually do (with my two sons) at least once a week. This experience will be something that we will remember with great pain.
During a comment session at about 2:45pm a man called in and said “Happy Martin Luther King (Jr.) day.” The radio personality replied with the same. Then, he asked why do we celebrate the death of a black man who has done nothing that we know about, other than what’s told on the news. He said if we want to do that, all we have to do is go across the river to East St. Louis to celebrate the deaths of blacks everyday. He wanted to know why the birth dates of Presidents were combined into one date to celebrate Presidents’ Day. Then, saying that he didn’t understand this, he said that black people were ‘dumb’ and they ‘stink.’ This man apologized for having to speak this way about something he didn’t understand; but, he said he didn’t think certain places should have to close for this observance and he was not going to celebrate on this day.
This was very disturbing to hear. My sons (ages 9 and 13) were upset. As a black parent, I don’t know how to express my anger other than to let others know that not only are there still a lot of very ignorant people right here in our society. Not only do we need to continue to stress (history) education to the young black males [that statistics sometimes say] are more uneducated than others, but WAKE UP AMERICA! Obviously we still have white males that are not in tune.
Although the radio personality told this guy that he shouldn’t have been saying these comments, it upset me to see that they let him say as much as he did.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged America to remove certain barriers that prevented some citizens from getting ahead. My children continue to live with those surrounding barriers!