Hey Kids! is a weekly feature looking at what’s coming up for families and kids of all ages.
I mostly didn’t grow up in the United States, but when I was 10, we moved to Washington, D.C. briefly, and I enrolled in the local public elementary school. That was when white people still sent their kids to the public schools so my classroom was a cross-section of class, politics (well, from liberal to more liberal), religion, ethics. It was a virtuous circle, a melting pot, a learning experience. It was, in short, what public school was supposed to be.
Fourth grade was the first time I ever encountered Black History Month. I was entranced by the story of Frederick Douglass and the Underground Railroad. We were taken on a field trip to the Lincoln Memorial, and our teachers told us about being by the reflecting pool, hearing Dr. King speak. I must have known he was dead, but I cried, anyway. They played the ”I have a Dream” speech on a record player. They gave us copies of Langston Hughes’ poem about a raisin in the sun. Blue mimeographed words of rage marching across the odd-textured white mimeo paper. Record players and mimeographs, that’s how old I am.
We didn’t even have Martin Luther King Day then and a black president was unthinkable. My son will miss out on the incredible wish-fulfillment moment of President Obama’s election – that feeling of new found/refound love of country, of pride. Of course, it’s a trade off I’m very happy to make.
But how and what will I tell him of Dr. King: his significance and meaning? I am beginning to think that might depend on the year. I suppose that is a mark of true greatness: that one is always relevant, no matter how circumstances change. The other day on the radio, Tavis Smiley summed Dr. King’s life up as “…really about three things: justice for all, service to others and a love that liberates people.”
This year I think we need that love. Love that can overcome hatred and violence. Love that conquers all. I am going to play the “I have a dream” speech, and we are going to talk about love.
There are also opportunities citywide for families to remember Dr. King in different ways.
Montgomery to Memphis
MOAD celebrates Martin Luther King Day twice: first on Saturday, with free admission and a (free)silk screen workshop. Monday is also a free admission day, with a range of activities from a making a chalk mural to a parenting lecture, to a Historically Black College fair. For more information,check out MoAD’s website (http://www.moadsf.org/), or call (415) 358-7200
Museum of the African Diaspora. Saturday, January 15th, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. and Monday, January 17th, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Free. 685 Mission Street at 3rd.
Latin Love?
This week’s MAKE IT MAKE IT @ MOCFA will focus on will focus on Olmec/Mayan/ Aztec-inspired clay creations… but I am sure a heart for MLK or Valentine’s is doable, too. If you haven’t checked it out, this is a great program, an opportunity for kids to meet artists and get some hands on play, too.
MAKE IT @ MOCFA. Saturday, January 15. 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Ages 5+. Adults $5; children free. Museum of Craft and Folk Art. 51 Yerba Buena Lane at Mission between 3rd & 4th.
Other Possibilities
Public Enemy are Amiri Baraka are at Yoshi’s this weekend. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is free on Monday and has Black Sabbath exhibit and free art workshop. In honor of Dr.King, the museum will have a “concrete poem” workshop set up. I’m not quite sure what that means,but the Jewish Museum consistently has the best family programming in the city so I am sure it will be cool.
Black Sabbath/Concrete Poem. Monday, January 16. Free Admission: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Workshop: 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. CJM. 736 Mission Street at 3rd.
Other Classes
On Vaccinations from A-Z at Natural Resources on Friday, Jan. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. $25. 1367 Valencia (near 25th Street).
For more service opportunities on Monday (ones for kids,ones with kids, ones for kids of all ages), check out http://mlkday.gov/ You can search by zipcode – there were plenty of options to choose from when I checked.