Martin Luther King, Jr. helped us be friends: A Conversation with my kid.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In honor of Martin Luther King, a conversation with my five-year-old on our way home from school last Friday:

Mom, did you know that Martin Luther King lived a long time ago?

Yeah, I did.

He was special because he helped us be friends with each other.

Yeah, he was really special. Because before him, lots of people thought they could only be friends if their skin was the same color. Which was sad and hard for a lot of people. And it doesn’t make any sense, right?

Yeah. And a bad guy murdered him. That’s the sad part, Mom.

It’s really sad. But no one forgot him, right? Because he worked so hard to make the world better.

And help us be friends with each other.

Yeah.

Because if he didn’t live I would only have friends with blonde skin. But I can have friends with brown skin too.

That’s exactly what he said once. He said he had a dream that kids with blonde skin and kids with brown skin would play together. And now, kids with blonde and brown skin play together all the time. So his dream came true.

Mom?

Yes.

I’m hungry, Mom. Mom? Where’s my snack?