On MLK Jr.

So this afternoon Selim and I were in the car on the way to speech therapy.  We were pulling into the parking lot when we had this exchange.  He asked me, 
     "Mom, have you ever heard of Martin Luther King?"    
     "Yes."
     "He was shot."
     "I know."
     "So you know about white skin and brown skin then?"
     "Yes."
     "So if it weren't for him, Hope and Ben (names changed because his classmates didn't ask for recognition) would have to sit in the back of the class room."
     "That isn't right, is it?"
     "No.  It's crazy!"

Fast forward another hour or so.  Selim and I are in the front yard.  He is working on his snow cave by the light of his Christmas flashlight, since the front porch light is out.  It is supposed to get really cold tonight and he wanted to make sure that his cave was exactly right before the hard freeze.  I'm wearing two jackets to stave off the cold wind and waiting on the front step for him to finish his masterpiece.
     "Why was he shot?"
     "Because someone didn't like his views.  He thought that brown skinned people should not enjoy the same kind of life as people with white skin."
     "Mom.  So there was this brown skinned person sitting on a bus.  A white person came over to her and said that that was his seat and told that person to move and she said 'No.'  And then she was arrested."
     "I know."
     "Can you imagine that?"
     "It is hard to believe."

And just because I think he is so photogenic...