Steph and I took the kids to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis over the weekend with some of our dear friends who live in Nashville.
Picture 1 is all of us at the Lorraine Hotel, the site of Martin Luther King's assassination.

Picture 2 is the balcony of room 306, the room where MLK was staying. The wreath marks where he was shot.

Picture 3 is the inside of his room.

Picture 4 is the bathroom almost directly across the street where James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King. His gun pointed out that cracked window.

Heavy stuff, and you felt that weight throughout the entire 3 hours we were there.
We could've stayed twice as long.
I can't believe how ignorant I have been towards the entire Civil Rights movement, I'm ashamed to say. There were bits and pieces I remember learning in school, but I feel a lot of it was glossed over. Chris, my African-American friend, agreed. Sad.
We delved deep into slavery, Selma, The Freedom Riders, Rosa Parks, and more. The kids had so many questions. We spent time reading everything to give them answers, as we went between our phones and the exhibits in front of us, shaking our heads and shedding tears together with what we discovered.
Our takeaway? There is so much work to be done and so much learning that needs to happen. You develop motivation through education, and I'm glad we could have our kids continue that process at this point in their lives. The greatest gift we can give them as parents, is to create an atmosphere where prejudices don't exist. All of us are a product of how we are brought up, and we're determined to raise them in an atmosphere of intelligence, not ignorance.
Yes, beaches rock. Yes, Disney is amazing, but give your kids something to think about, and they just might become little humans of change..
And as parents? It's the most important thing we can attempt to teach.
All my best in life and the relationships in it
XOXO Glenn


