Editor,
February - also celebrated as Black History Month - is coming to an end.
For the past few years, we have celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a national holiday. What I find amazing is that when former President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating the holiday, it took almost a decade before all 50 states recognized it.
Most people celebrate it by attending services that reflect on the teachings of King. Some refer to his famous "I have a dream" speech. One of the things I take from the speech is the idea of equality, primarily the rhetoric of all men being created equal, which I quote from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
While these rights are close to the heart of every American, some are still intolerant of others. Mind you, we cannot have a totally tolerant society, for people's opinions are protected by the First Amendment.
So, we will always have groups of intolerant people we must tolerate. Therefore, we must strive for respect - to respect the rights to exist for all, regardless of our beliefs or opinions when it comes to issues regarding race, nationality, gender, sexuality and disability.
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King preached equality but never lived to see it. In the eyes of the nation at that time, he was a radical African-American who encouraged civil unrest. As a country, I think we owe it to his legacy to realize "the dream."
In the last few days, I noticed another King in the news - well, not the mainstream media, but through other sources such as bloggers. There has been little coverage, unless you live in the Oxnard, Calif., area.
That is where a middle school student shot another student for being of a certain sexual orientation. The assailant premeditated the murder and shot 15-year-old Lawrence King in the head. The only good thing about this is the medical examiner said King's organs were going to be harvested to be donated to needy recipients.
The tragedy is that the shooting happened at a middle school. The recent shooting in Illinois garnered the most attention, but the reasons behind it are still being debated.
As for Lawrence King's murderer, the crime has been classified as a hate crime, so the 14-year-old assailant will be tried as an adult. With intolerance invading our middle schools, it is no wonder that our kids are not safe anymore.
Some organizations preach tolerance and try to get out the word. Tolerance starts at home. Parents need to lead by example. Tolerance.org notes: "Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human."
In these last few days of February, let us remember King's speech and practice it throughout the year. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
If we can practice tolerance and show examples to our youth, then maybe some of these senseless acts of violence will not happen. Diversity should be celebrated and not hated.
Eric Poncho
UNM student
