Gary-Summer: March 26, 2025 - Atlanta, MLK NHP

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

March 26, 2025 - Atlanta, MLK NHP

Long Ride Up

Title: March 26, 2025 - Atlanta, MLK NHP
Hike Info : Description : : Menu : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

I wonder if I am getting more used to Atlanta time. I left the bed about 6:30. But Sherri had a rougher night. She started coughing earlier than that and got up. Not sure if she was trying not to wake me or if it felt better to be upright-probably both. We shall see how this impacts today. The plan is to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historic Park (MLK NHP) today. But if she is not up to it, we will see about tomorrow.

Andrew Young and Sherri

I needed to get some supplies this morning, so I took off around 7am and got back a half an hour later. Sherri is able to rest a bit, but I do not think she went to sleep. About 9, she gets up and I ask what she wants for breakfast: pancakes. I must have had oatmeal on my mind because I made her oatmeal. Hopefully this is a one time brain slippage.

She is trying to get some medicine from Kaiser. Kaiser has an advice nurse who has put Sherri into a video contact with a doctor. The doctor goes over the symptoms and what Sherri has done. The doctor authorizes there to pick up the medicine at a local Kaiser pharmacy near Midtown.

We leave the AirBnB about 11:10 and get on the #110 heading towards MidTown. This takes close to 45 minutes. The pharmacy takes Sherri’s information and gets her the medicine within 10 minutes. And off we are again on #110. This takes us to the Arts Center Station where we hop on the Gold train to Peachtree. Peachtree Station is the same station with the long, steep escalator. But we are going up. Once outside, we walk two blocks and wait for the trolley.

Behold!

The trolley is a closed route on rail. It goes from Centennial Park to the King National Historic Park. We catch it at Walton Spring Park, where Sherri sees an Andrew Young statue before we hop a ride to Centennial Olympic Park. Then take it down Edgewood until Jackson where it turns past Martin Luther King, Jr National Historical Park.

In some ways, we cannot believe we are here. MLK was killed when we were in early high school. His death is one of the markers of our lives. Since that time, not only do we hear and resonate with his quotes, we have read things like Strength to Love and the Letters from the Birmingham Jail.

Our first stop is to the Visitor Center, but Sherri has noticed there is a 2:00pm talk at the Old Ebenezer Baptist Church. So we will be back here in 45 minutes. Even before we got to the Center, there was a ranger for the park crossing the intersection. But that is not noteworthy by itself. He is blind. It is interesting watching him navigate around.

Also before the Visitor Center, we stopped at a statue called “Behold”. It is similar to Kunta Kinte raising a baby to the sky in Roots. We do not spend much time at the Center, just enough to get an idea of what we will be doing. We will be back.

Inside the Old Ebenezer Baptist Church

We walk around through the grounds of the King Center. Much of it is closed for renovation, such as Freedom Hall or the Administration building. But the reflection pool and the King’s Tomb, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Corretta Scott King are interned are available. It is the tomb where I grow somber, remembering how much we have lost in them. And reflecting back on yesterday, maybe that is why we have burial monuments that reflect back on our loss.

In this case, the setting is more impressive than the tomb. The tomb is set in a reflection pool. But the water around it, when it runs, has water flowing over his words: We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. I stand there reflecting for about five minutes on all of this-the Kings are worth more than five minutes.

Firehouse #6

Then we walk a few steps to the Old Ebenezer Baptist Church. We arrive a few minutes before the doors open. The actual sanctuary is on the second floor of the building. We all get seated and a ranger gives his 45 minute talk about the Church. He is full of facts, such as the church is 139 years old, but has had only five senior pastors. Or that MLK’s grandmother had been shot while playing the organ here. Unfortunately, he was not amplified and so much of the talk was mumbled.

Upon leaving, he stopped by a picture of MLK’s second funeral procession and talked about the various people in the picture. Those I can remember included the family, Arthur Ashe, Andrew Young, Thurgood Marshall, and a whole host of others who were with King in his strive for Civil Rights.

We leave the Church and take a quick look at the six points of non-violence posted on the wall of the King Center. The quotes from Coretta Scott King on the wall include:

Nonviolence is the most powerful force that we have for the counteracting of hatred, bitterness and violence which have infested our society.

People who think nonviolence is easy don’t realize that it’s a spiritual discipline that requires a great deal of strength, growth, and purging of the self so that one can overcome almost any obstacle for the good of all without being concerned about one’s own welfare.

And then the six principles of non-violence:

PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People

It is not a method for cowards; it does resist.
It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence Seeks to Win Friendship and Understanding.

The outcome of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence Seeks to Defeat Injustice, or Evil, Not People.

Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not persons victimized by evil.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence Holds That Unearned, Voluntary Suffering for a Just Cause Can Educate and Transform People and Societies.

Nonviolence is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation; to accept blows without striking back.
Nonviolence is a willingness to accept violence if necessary but never inflict it.
Nonviolence holds that unearned suffering for a cause is redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence Chooses Love Instead of Hate.

The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.

Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.
Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unselfish, and creative
Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence Believes That the Universe Is on the Side of Justice.

From The King Center both on The Wall-see below-and their web site

From here, we walk down to Firehouse #6. It is open and we come in and there is a 1927 fire truck in the middle-sort of to be expected.But much of the visitor area concerns the Auburn area. This area was (is?) a thriving area of Black entrepreneurship. A while back, I read a book called From Black Wall Street to Allensworth by Hedreich Nichols. The Sweet Auburn area is in the book. Segregation made the area an enclave where Blacks could not leave it except to do the menial work they were allowed to do. The book talked about how a Black barber changed the dynamic and helped build the area to a thriving economic base. There is much in the firehouse which also talks about that.

Trump signing the Park into exsistence

Then it is on to the MLK birth house. It is closed for renovation. But just as we come in, a ranger is giving a talk about what we would have seen in the birth house. He talks about MLK’s family and how they lived and the personality of the young MLK. Interesting. This was a small group. The building where the talk was given also serves as a gift store.Then it is time to go back to the Visitor Center for about an hour and half. The Visitor Center also acts as a museum-like area-not with a lot of artifacts, but with pictures and explanations. There is much about King, but most of it is things which I already knew. But the visitor center also gave background to what Blacks experienced and why it was important for King to make a stand like he did, rallying others to overcome these obstacles to being treated equally. Of course, there are the obligatory quotes of inspiration from MLK.

Walking to Freedom

There is a room called the D.R.E.A.M. room. I did not find out what the initials stood for. But it talks about the relationship between MLK and Jimmy Carter. There was mutual respect between the two of them about what they were doing and what they had overcome. One point was really telling. There was an interview with Carter where he was asked about promoting Civil Rights. He said that he does not believe in civil rights, but in Human Rights, that all people have these rights as humans. Another very small facet which I found interesting. Carter had pushed for this park's recognition of King. But it was actually Trump who signed it into being. There was an appropriate quote from Jimmy Carter:

If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights,

we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values

which we espouse around the world:

A decent education for our children,

adequate medical care for all Americans,

an end to discrimination against minorities and women,

a job for all those able to work,

and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance.

Jimmy Carter, Jan 14, 1981, Farewell Address to the Nation

A few minutes before 5, we leave the Visitor Center and try to make bus #806. But we never see it come. So we went back to the trolley where it dropped us off and waited a few minutes for it to come. It takes us to Peachtree Station. Having learned about the escalator, we take the elevator down. It does have a well used smell to it. Then it is onto the Gold train to Brookhaven. Next is what to eat. I had seen on the map something called the Grindhouse Killer Burger. It has good reviews on Tripadvisor and it looks like there are two others. So we tried it out. It is behind the station, about a block away. The single patty hamburgers are a bit small-go for the two patty. But the burger is tasty. We also have French fries, covered with cheese-recommended by me.

We walk back on streets which parallel Peachtree. It is much more pleasant walking this way than along the busy Peachtree street. Our new way pop’s us out by the Starbucks only a block away from our AirBnB. We spent the rest of the night recuperating until our 9:30 Family Zoom call. It is good to reconnect with family when we are away. Then we.go to bed at 11:30.