Monday, January 15, 2007

I have a dream....

Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even the most white-bread public school history class includes a brief history of the speeches and non-violent protest work of Dr. King. If you need an overview of Dr. King and his work, check here.

So in honor of Dr. King, I have decided to make my own "I have a Dream Speech". Thank you to Martin Luther King Jr. for Kids for the link to this idea. This is a great idea to try with your children too.

"I Have a Dream Too!"


I have a dream that one day this nation will value and support breastfeeding mothers and babies.

I have a dream that one day America will be a place that breastfeeding is the norm. After all, it is their birth right. (Thanks, Kimberly!)

I have a dream that one day African-American babies will no longer have a greater risk of SIDS, morbidity, mortality, ear infections, obesity....the list of diseases that are more prevalent in the African-American children and adults is too long. One is too long.

I have a dream that the womanly art of breastfeeding will be reclaimed and respected.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day Black moms, White moms, Native moms, African moms, British moms, Christian moms, Jewish moms, Muslim moms, stay-at-home moms and working moms will all be able to breastfeed their babies/provide human milk so their children can get the start in life they deserve.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day LLLI philosophy will be the predominant parenting philosophy.

This is my hope and faith. With this faith we will be able to help mothers gain confidence, trust and pride in themselves as they realize they are the experts in their own babies.

This will be the day when breastfeeding is not "the best". It is normal, it is common, it is just what mothers and babies do.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

4 comments:

Liz said...

Very well-said Micky, I like it! :D

Amiri Jah-Jah said...

With this faith we will be able to help mothers gain confidence, trust and pride in themselves as they realize they are the experts in their own babies.

This really stood out for me. Confidence is one thing I lacked when I had Amiri. Everybody had their own opinion about what was best for him. I got so many different points of view that I didn't even trust myself to make the right decisions for my child - a child I created and carried for 10 months.

I prayed for many things when I was pregnant. Mostly I prayed for a healthy, full-term pregnancy and a healthy baby. Praise Jah, my prayers were answered. Next time, I'll pray for the confidence to trust my own maternal instincts in knowing what is best for my child.

Soul Hunter said...

A very timely post. My wife (NapiSoul) recently flew up to her parents to pick up our son from a 2-week visit with her folks. On the way there she packed 5 ounces of breast milk she had pumped at work that day. Not only did security give her a hard time, but with a glaring lack of compassion they removed her breast milk from her carry on bag and poured it out while she watched. Nothing quite like hearing your wife on the other end of a phone crying and feeling powerless to do anything about it. Hope you don't mind but we've linked you to our NapiSoul Blog!

Unknown said...

Beautiful.

By the way I have cool MLK pics to share with you of your kiddos, just otta find my USB cord.

Take care Micky.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE, and their BREAST : )