The Words of My Childhood

And The Still-Relevant Words for Today

Circa 1970, Lagos, Nigeria:

My childhood home was filled with words.

Each day, at least three or four local newspapers reached our home. My parents reading the newspapers from cover to cover was a part of our daily lives. Each week, my father would buy American based “Time” and “Newsweek” magazines that were already a few weeks old as it took that long to get to Lagos. My parents would read them, cover to cover. If we had electricity, words of the TV blared with the national news at 7 pm, and then the global news. When there was political unrest, the words from the BBC or a local news station would blare from a transistor radio. The animated conversations between my parents about the news, the newspapers, the magazines, and the articles was constant.

The words on covers of the books on the shelves that lined our home library also spoke loud words. As the youngest of three kids, I was the littlest. Yet, I was the center of the universe, but maybe just my own universe. I would sit on the floor and pull books off of the lowest shelves of the bookshelf to read. Yet, I noticed that when the adults referenced books, they picked them from middle to higher shelves that I could not reach. I thought those books at the bottom were very neglected and needed some attention. I thought all books held equal value, after all, they all held words.

That is how I became an early reader. I would “read” those books, sometimes upside down. There were books in Russian, French and English, all dusty and old. And they dazzled with tantalizing information.

I wanted to be as astute as the adults, as well as erudite and eloquent. They were so intelligent, and this is what was valued in my home. Imposter Syndrome started early with me. Honesty, I did not find the news interesting, but I so admired and respected my elders, and I knew I was supposed to be as articulate about global issues as they were. I wanted to mimic them. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to impress them. I failed woefully at all that. Thank God.

But I read. And I listened. And I knew what was significant.

JFK, MLK and Malcolm X must have been personal friends of my parents because they seemed to know everything about them, and they were always part of the after-news-after-Time-and-Newsweek-magazine reading discussions. The Nigerian civil war, happening in our very backyard, was as significant as apartheid in South Africa, the Vietnam war, the Cold war, and the first man on the moon. They were immediate, present and of great concern. This was the Zeitgeist of experiences, memories, people, and events that shaped my childhood.

By age 11, I had read the Autobiography of Malcom X, and a couple of years later, watched “Roots,” the television miniseries based on the work of Alex Haley. I also remember watching, multiple times, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” speech on TV. I was so moved by the far-away-change-the-world moment. In my mind, it was also a tribute, to the greatness of the country, called the USA - They produced this magnificence!

I understood the facts and data of the slave trade and slavery in America. I understood it was evil. I understood that some of my African people sold their own into slavery. I understood our complicity.

Yet, as I grew up in an all Black environment, my childhood context did not allow me to understand that anti-Black racism was global and pervasive, existing on a continuum of past, present and future. It took me many years of living in this country to realize how complex this thing called “racism” is and how relevant it is to my daily life.

And I am a firm believer that words play a significant role in undoing and healing us from the historical and current ravages of racism on all of us regardless of race. Words of learning, reflection, communication, truth telling, concilliation, apology, justice, and healing.

Today, I chew, digest, reflect, mull over, share, celebrate and discuss words that have shaped my life. I invite you to take a moment and slowly read, pause, reread and digest some of the most meaningful words that our revered ancestor, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. left us as an inheritance for our collective liberty and freedom.

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , Letters from a Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

“Light has come into the world, and every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” - 1963, Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr., Sermon: Three Dimensions of a Complete Life, Start Page 67, Quote Page 72, Published by Harper & Row, New York.

“I still believe that We Shall overcome! This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , Acceptance speech on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, 1964

“The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.” - Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

May these words heal our hearts, and may we walk in the light of creative altruism, may we overcome and build that city of freedom, and may we DAILY, discard the fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.

Which words speak the most to you? Please share. And comment. Thank you for being here.