It's Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, and for the last few days we've been talking at work about my adventures in Mississippi just before The Civil Rights Movement began, when the whites could do no wrong, and the blacks could do no right.
I was only 8 or 9 years old, but I was so outspoken my mother didn't dare let me go to school down there for fear the whites would kill me.  I was befriended by a colored family that snuck me into their Pentecostal church on several Sundays, and if the whites had ever found out about it, it would have been serious trouble.
But I always remember what the mother of the family once said.  "Darlin' you gotta remember, we ain't really afraid of these white folks.  They huff and they puff, and once and a while they kill a few of us, but they can never destroy our spirit.  We're an infinitely patient people, but our patience is really growing thin, and sooner or later we're gonna stand up and say enough, we just aren't gonna put up with this any more.  And no matter what these white folks do, they won't be able to stop us..  And I tell you, child, it'll be a woman that starts it.  It will be a colored woman that will stand up somewhere and say "I simply won't do this any more!  I'm not gonna be treated like this any more!"  And that cry will spread throughout the south."  It couldn't have been a year later I heard what was going on in Montgomery, Alabama, and heard that it was a woman who'd started it, a Miss Parks, and I simply nodded.
Many years later I ran into some Klan protesters in Maine and joined them on a few occasions carrying a sign that said "Shame, shame, we're all the same!" which seems pretty silly now.  A very attractive blonde, blue-eyed girl recruited me because I was blonde and blue eyed, and she said it drove them crazy when people like us protested against them.  And she was absolutely right!  Every time we stood up there the Klan group went berserk!  This one  guy would scream in my face constantly that I was betraying my race, and siding with the mud people.
We've come a long way, but we've got a longer way to go.  Just a couple of years ago I was talking on the radio about a message I had received from The Rev. King about some matter going on then, when a lady called in and said "This womanizer is NOT in Heaven!  And how could you possibly think he is?  Everybody knows he had an affair with every white woman he could find.  He's no better than those miserable Kennedys!"  I said "What's so bad about women being drawn to a hero?  That's what's supposed to happen..that's natural.  Women are drawn to the heroic men, not the cowards that cringe in the corner and say "Let any evil happen, it's not our concern!"   What did you want for Mr. King to chase after, boys? Do you prefer the unnatural and unholy?"  "Oh!" the woman cried, "Oh!  How could anyone say anything as disgusting and evil as that, that white women should be drawn to a colored man?"  "Maybe because he's right!"  the commentator put in.  "I understand what he's saying."  At that point the lady hung up.
I'm often asked what Rev. King thinks of the war on terror.  He has said in this situation he cannot complain, where the army is strictly voluntary and the cause just.  He wishes there was a better way than war, but sometimes the only way you can stop evil is to fight.  There should be a better way, but some in the world will not permit it.  As long as young men and women are not forced to serve against their will, and The American Forces continue to be just, he cannot speak ill of the effort.
Things have improved, things are better, but they need to be better, still.  We must remember, on this day, all the colored people that gave their lives for their freedom, and the white people that finally stood up beside them, and said "It's time for this to end!"  We are fighting evil around the world.  As we do so, we cannot neglect the evil at home, and let Darkness again creep over our shores.  We must remember all that fought for human rights and swear that their fight shall not be in vain.
The Kingdom Of God is a little disappointed that President Bush uses the anniversary of Rev. King's birth to attack a woman's right to an abortion. This is one of the few things They oppose him on.  Though The Kingdom Of God does not like abortion, they fear those trying to use it to force their religious beliefs on others, far more, and most of the arguments that the anti-abortion people use They consider blasphemy against God. The anti-abortion people must never succeed in forcing their religious beliefs on others, no matter how justified they feel their cause. They are one of the greatest dangers in the current age.  Those in The Kingdom Of God are sure that if Bush fully understood Their point of view, he, too, would oppose this evil.
There's never enough time for all the things They want you to do! George Harrison is so amazed and appalled by the things that he has found in The Afterlife that he wants me to do an extensive interview with him called "Wow!  What I've Found In The Afterlife! By George Harrison as told to Speaker Gerald Polley." I know, it's a terrible title, but that's what he wants. Sadly, at the moment, we have no time for such a project, no matter how much we'd like to do it. Too many things going on at once.  But maybe some day we'll be able to work on it.  George has become as addicted to our science fiction stories as John Lennon, and we must continue to read our old ones and, write new ones, to keep them happy.  He agrees with John, that in the future some book publishers are going to shoot themselves because they refused our manuscripts!  As our friend Jesse says, he can hear toilets flushing in all their corporate offices.
Well, Linda's off to the hospital again to get her dressing changed. We're trying to get this situation  taken care of before we go on to another one that needs treatment.  When the old bodies start to complain they complain a lot!  But that's what age does to you. In a few days I'll be 55! It's hard to believe my memories of Mississippi are over 40 years old!  It seems like only yesterday. I've seen a lot of history, and I'll probably see a lot more before I die. I hope it's better history.