BOISE -- It's been 42 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wasassassinated. But his message of equality and love lives on, certainly in the day named for the great American civil rights leader, but in more than just the January 17 holiday.
The important thing for me, is that we don't get bogged down in it being one day, said Representative Cherie Buckner-Webb (D - Boise). When there's one day to celebrate human rights, that's a problem. Human rights needs to be integrated into the fabric of who we are as citizens, and acknowledge the humanity of everyone.
Buckner-Webb is the president of the Idaho Black History Museum, the first black legislator in state history, and a 5th generation Idahoan.
I honor how far we've come, Buckner-Webb said. I'm really proud of that. And yet, we must not sit on our laurels and say, 'Well, this is how it was when my first grandfather came here.' and said 'It's that good, mm hmm, they can vote and everything. And look she's a representative.' That's strictly not enough. That's not enough. Wherever there's suffering anywhere, wherever there's indignity, or unfairness for anyone, we still have work to do.
But according to Buckner-Webb, it's not mere tolerance that will move us forward.
I used to think tolerance was the best thing in the world, said Buckner-Webb. Then I realized if someone said, 'I can tolerate you living next door to me,' that didn't feel real good for me. So, I hope that we can go a step past tolerance, a step past the golden rule, and that I treat you the way you would like to be treated. Not necessarily the way I would like to be treated. In honoring someone's personhood, we have to appreciate the uniqueness of who they are. It is possible for us to live together, and be different.
