I’ve been thinking all week about MLK Day. I want to write
something that honors Dr. King and not only remembers his legacy but continues
it in some way. And yet every time I try, I find myself at a loss for words. I feel
inadequate.

My knowledge of (and respect for) Dr. King comes from
reading a few speeches, from a paper I wrote in college on his “Letter from a
Birmingham Jail,” and from the basic lessons we received in history class. I
wish I knew more. His legacy makes me think about philosophical and theological
topics surrounding justice and compassion and love. And it makes me think about
political topics surrounding social change and cycles of poverty. And
historical topics related to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and racial
discrimination.

It also makes me think about the Civil Rights Movement in a
broader context. I associate the Civil Rights Movement with guaranteeing the
rights of African-Americans. But the movement had broad implications beyond the
black community. If the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior hadn’t been
willing to risk his life as a leader on behalf of African-Americans, where
would people with disabilities be? What line can we trace between his words and
actions and the fact that my daughter attends public school? (Truly–in the
1960s, Penny would not have been welcome within the public school system.)

As a woman and as the mother of a child with disabilities, I
stand on the shoulders of many men and women who lived what they believed, even
at the cost of their lives. My life, and the life of our daughter, is the
better for it.