by John W. Whitehead \/ April 3rd, 2018<\/p>\n
\nIn this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. [Y]ou can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization\u2026filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love\u2026 What we need in the United States is not division<\/a>; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Robert F. Kennedy on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I was sitting in a crowded bar, drinking a beer, when the news broke that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot and killed<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The room erupted in cheers.<\/p>\n
It was April 4, 1968.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never forgotten that moment.<\/p>\n
Twenty-two years old and a junior at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, I was horrified that King\u2019s death was being greeted with such glee. Then again, as hard it is to believe it today, there was rejoicing all across the country<\/a> on that dark…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n