LWer remembers MLK and lasting impact he had

MEMBER COLUMN

by Bonnie Coomes

LW contributor

Last year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I listened to a speech made by Dick Gregory in 1983, and it brought back a profound memory for me.

I first met Dr. King in 1963, and I was just beginning to date a young man from my home state, Wisconsin.

We were students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. We were both Methodist and members of the MSM or Methodist Student Movement, which was much more liberal than the Methodist Church I had grown up in in a small farm community in Western Wisconsin.

That year, the national MSM meeting was held in Omaha, Nebraska, and Fred and I decided to attend the conference. Dr. King was the keynote speaker. I remember being in the audience as he spoke. I listened intently, and chills ran down my spine as he talked. After his speech, I was able to shake his hand. It was such a privilege.

Prior to this, I had been engaged to a young medical student in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, for one-half of a day. His name was Motilal Persaud. He was East Indian and had dark skin. When I asked him home to meet my parents, they wouldn’t let him in the door. I was 18 years old and very naive. They insisted that he was Black and would not let him in the door. Obviously, they were very prejudiced, and I was a very immature 18-yearold. I broke my engagement to this very intelligent, caring young man and have been sorry ever since.

As I listened to Dr. King’s speech, a moment happened I will never forget. Those of us in the audience crossed our arms and held onto the hands of the students next to us. In my case, one was a white girl from a southern state and the other was a Black student. As we sang “We Shall Overcome Some Day,” I felt chills run through me, and tears were rolling down my face.

I am unable to describe or name what I was feeling that day, but I believe it had a great deal to do with why I tried to get to the Selma March of 1965 and why I later adopted a biracial child. That moment in Omaha, Nebraska, did not change my life, but certainly set me on a path to who I am today.

A friend in Leisure World called me a “racist.” He said that I was against the white race after he read my story in a publication put out by the Leisure World Creative Writers Club.

A week later, he, on the commemoration of Dr. King’s birthday, said that he didn’t mean it. He just wanted me to think about it. I have. I believe that we are all one race, the human race. Under our law so far, that is the law. We all deserve equal rights and every individual who believes in honoring this must treat his or her fellow human beings with dignity.

My experience with Dr. King, plus many other experiences, have taught me a morality my churches have never came close to. I am proud and honored to have met this great man— perhaps not a perfect man but an honorable one.