An Ode to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr' on Jan. 15th, 2002 (for my colleagues & students)

On this your 72nd birthday,

Though they cut you down at 38.

How fortunate some youth can say,

We learned something new about Dr. King's fate.

Though a generation now of geeks, & nerds & couch potatoes,

Whose parents are exploited by rich corporations that govern

The "world gone wrong", if you learned how King fought his foes

With non-violent resistence, and by loving your brethern,

Then it was worth your while in school once more

Though you're de-educated dear African-American youth

Cause they're robbin, they're robbin, black culture we adore

Lucky the student whose teacher taught Martin's truth.

War, war, and more war since you have passed on

Waged by a people drugged into oblivion

By violent play stations, violent movies, & violent streets

Where arms are sold and children lose their feet

From land mines world wide,

And worse yet, so much genocide.

But lucky the student who is taught today,

By an instructor who remembered your day,

For you denounced the Viet Nam War,

Perhaps that is what they murdered you for.

Now they try to silent our speech

Atempting to limit civil liberties

While bombing, not doing what you preached

Knowing damn well " war is terrorism too", so many casualties:

Some 4,000 civilians in Afghanistan have died

Women and children that could not hide.

by Jack Stewart, Jan. 15, 2002