January 13, 2024 • 16 mins
Many people do not know that Martin Luther King Jr. had a disability and made grand contributions to the Disability Rights Movement.
This podcast follows the story of Elliot and Maria, who have struggles parallel to the Disability Rights movement, and find that the world today is far from being equal as they learn what the Crux of a Civil Right truly is...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Advocate for Success. Season 1, Episode 10, The Crux of a Civil Right.
(00:06):
Produced by, Elton Thomas
Empowerment, can be expressed, through your apparel.
[Visit the MissionAdvocate store on Etsy at, www.etsy.com/shop/MissionAdvocate.
(00:30):
Elliot and Maria had been married for three years.
They live in a complex in the city and enjoy their simple life.
Elliot is legally blind, and Maria is fully sighted.
While Maria faced pressure from her family and friends not to marry
Elliot because of his disability, she found Elliot to be very independent.
(00:51):
For instance, even though they have a car, Elliot still takes the bus to work
so that his wife does not have to be burdened to provide his transportation.
One of Maria's coworkers at an eye clinic she worked at, who was very much against their relationship, told
her that since Elliot was the man in the relationship, then he should be driving her to work.
While Maria considered her friend's suggestion, she also pointed out Elliot's good qualities, like
(01:16):
how he is a good cook, has a stable job, and is reliable.
But still, many of her family and friends were against the relationship because they could not see beyond his disability.
Elliot has an eye disease known as Retinitis Pigmentosa.
While his vision is severely limited; he chose to work hard and
(01:37):
stopped receiving government benefits for his disability shortly after graduating high school.
Elliot is a supervisor at a manufacturing facility, and has not missed a
scheduled day of work in the seven years he's been with the company.
His company provides a great benefits package and an excellent pension program.
There is no doubt that Elliot and Maria are ready to start, a family.
(02:04):
For much of the 20th century, disabled people were subject to horrendous treatment.
They were often abused, sterilized, and euthanized because they did not fit society's ideals of normality.
People with disabilities were considered to be unproductive and a burden on the economy.
As a result, they were not given the same rights or opportunities as other citizens of their country.
(02:28):
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many advancements were made in the medical field for people with disabilities.
This included the discovery of antiseptic surgery by Joseph Lister in
1865, which helped to increase survival rates of physical disabilities.
The first hospitals for the "handicapped" were also opened during this time,
(02:50):
as well as industrial schools that trained disabled children for jobs.
This was a time of significant change and modernization for the world.
It was a time of globalization through transportation technology, popular music, and global economies.
People became more and more accepting of each other as time went on;
however, people began to question the social structures that were put in place.
(03:14):
For example, in the late 19th and early 20th century, a movement called Eugenics caught on.
This was when people believed that certain diseases, disabilities, and traits,
like criminality and addiction, were hereditary and should be eliminated.
The main reason for this movement was that it was thought that these
(03:34):
genetic defects were a drain on the economy and would cause moral decay.
People who had disabilities were also considered to be a burden on society because they
could not work as hard and did not contribute to the economy as others.
In the early 1900s, society viewed anyone with a physical or mental disability as being unsightly, unskilled, and unproductive.
(03:56):
They were often treated as outcasts.
They were often seen at freak shows.
In addition, they were not allowed to work in manufacturing factories
and had to rely on charity or panhandling to survive.
As the eugenics movement gained popularity in America, laws were passed that forcibly sterilized thousands of disabled people.
(04:17):
In fact, the Supreme Court of the United States even ruled that it was legal for
governments to forcibly sterilize people with disabilities in the 1927 ruling of Buck versus Bell.
During the 1960s, people with disabilities began to realize that they did not have equal rights and opportunities.
They were not accepted by the majority of society and fought for their rights as citizens.
(04:42):
Though the Civil Rights Movement was strong in the 1960s, it was not until
decades later that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law.
Although the law was a significant step in the right direction, it is
essential to remember that the struggles of people with disabilities continues, today.
(05:05):
Elliot is on his way home from work, and while he waits for his final
bus, he calls Maria to see what she would like to do for dinner.
They agree that Chinese sounds great, so Elliot calls to place an
order for pickup from a small family-owned place near their home.
On the menu are St. Paul sandwiches and fried rice.
(05:25):
They enjoy a quiet dinner and talk about their day.
After dinner, they wash up and watch a movie.
After the movie finished, they started getting ready for bed.
Maria puts her arms around Elliot, looks him in the eye,
and gently whispers, "We are going to have a baby."
Elliot's heart literally skips a beat in excitement, as they embrace each other in joy.
(05:49):
Elliot's mind races that night as he lays in bed next to his love.
He imagines going to Lamaze classes; doctor appointments; and preparing a
nursery with, a crib, baby monitor, and newly painted walls.
Of course, Elliot pictures holding his baby and being a father.
Maria asks Elliot not to tell his family until she is further along, just in case.
(06:14):
In the next few weeks, Maria drew distance from Elliot.
She told a close friend about being pregnant, and her friend posed the option to not go
through with the pregnancy because of the risk of Elliot's eye disease being passed to their child.
Maria's family also supported this idea and told her things like, "Do you really want to have to take care
(06:35):
of, two blind people?" Maria felt so overwhelmed with pressure, and Elliot interpreted her distance as being from the pregnancy,
so he thought it best to give her space and give her love and support when he could.
Elliot wakes up hearing someone crying, he looks at the clock, and it's 1 AM.
He realizes the crying is Maria, and it's coming from the other room.
(06:58):
Elliot goes to her, and she asks him to get the Vicodin from
the medicine cabinet in the orange prescription bottle with a white cap.
As Elliot walks towards the bathroom to get the medicine, he asks, "What's going on?" With tears streaming down
her face and in words that Elliot could barely understand, Maria explains that she took the day off work
(07:18):
to go with a friend, to Planned Parenthood, and they gave her a pill to end the pregnancy.
As Elliot stands there, everything turns bright white for a second, and when he comes to,
it takes him a moment to remember where he is and what is going on.
Elliot starts to feel enraged, but then he tells himself that the important
thing to do right now is to take care of his wife.
(07:42):
Whenever Maria gains any bit of energy, she apologizes to Elliot and cries loudly
as he holds her hand and tells her that everything will be alright.
For the next couple of months, Elliot and Maria grow farther apart.
They sought counseling; however, there was no saving their marriage.
All the love and passion they had for each other, was flushed down the toilet with their unborn child.
(08:11):
As the leader of America's most significant civil rights movement, Martin Luther King
Jr. shook up the United States in ways that still resonate today.
Despite the fact that he was physically disabled, King's ability to inspire others
with disabilities made him one of the most influential leaders of his time.
Gunnar Jahn, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who presented King with his award, said
(08:35):
that "by his tireless efforts, he opened the eyes of many Americans to the
insidious evil of racism and showed how people can overcome it by peaceful resistance."
King's early life was marked by the traditions of African American religious faith.
Both his father and grandfather were Baptist preachers, and he grew up on Auburn
Avenue in Atlanta, the bustling Black Wall Street of the post-Depression Era South.
(08:59):
He was also exposed to the social gospel ideas espoused by his
father and grandfather and influenced by Mohandas Gandhi's precepts of nonviolence.
He combined these with his Christian social gospel beliefs to craft a protest strategy
that relied on both mobilizations of Black churches and skillful appeals for white support.
After graduating from Morehouse College in 1944, King became the co-pastor (with his father)
(09:25):
of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and was active in local black community affairs.
In 1948, he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he won the Plafker Prize and a Crozer fellowship.
He then studied at Boston University, where he earned a doctorate in 1953.
(09:46):
During the years of the civil rights movement, King led numerous major
demonstrations that brought national attention to the struggle for racial equality.
These included the Montgomery bus boycott that integrated public transportation, the Greensboro sit-in movement that desegregated lunch counters
nationwide, and the March on Washington and Selma-to-Montgomery marches that helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
(10:11):
Led by King's philosophy of nonviolence and backed by the organizational skills of his Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), these protests often drew sympathetic media coverage and public support.
This enabled them to achieve their broader goals, including the passage
of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
(10:31):
King's recognition of the link between segregation and colonialism resulted in alliances with groups fighting oppression overseas, particularly in Africa.
In 1957, he went to Ghana at Kwame Nkrumah's invitation to attend the nation's independence ceremony.
In 1958, he traveled to South Africa to meet with labor leaders
(10:53):
and attend an SCLC-sponsored event honoring Kenyan labor leader Tom Mboya.
Although he died in 1968 at age 35, King's civil rights efforts live on.
His legacy of nonviolence, combined with the organization and persistence of his
SCLC, inspired a generation to stand up for what was right.
(11:13):
In 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union, named King among its "America's Greatest Freedom Fighters" because
of his commitment to a society that embraces all people regardless of their physical abilities.
In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, President Obama cited King's example.
(11:33):
People tend to associate civil rights leaders with skin color, but Martin Luther
King Jr also fought tirelessly on behalf of people living with disabilities.
His work helped erode the notion that separate is equal and
set an example for 54 million Americans living with disabilities.
Though the Civil Rights Movement focused on eliminating discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and national origin,
(11:59):
people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were often overlooked or disregarded in favor of other marginalized groups.
They often suffered under harsh institutions or asylums; Dr. King recognized this, emphasizing their individual right to fight for
their own rights as individuals - his words and actions inspired advocates nationwide to fight for theirs as individuals.
(12:22):
At the time of King's assassination, the Civil Rights Movement had made great strides toward creating
an all-inclusive society; however, disability rights activism was only just getting underway and needed much improvement.
The Civil Rights Movement made significant gains against discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and sex.
(12:45):
Yet, progress toward an inclusive America was slow in coming with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act
22 years after King's death, accelerating this effort toward creating an equitable and accessible society for all its citizens.
The Disability Rights Movement remains committed to increasing access for those
living with disabilities in terms of education, housing, and employment.
(13:09):
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy will serve as an
inspirational beacon to all those striving to build, a better tomorrow.
After Maria moved out, Elliot struggled with mental health issues.
He lost all hope of ever having a family and made a decision to get a vasectomy.
(13:31):
Elliot turned to alcohol, got involved with a lady who was
addicted to opioids, and tried to help her end the addiction.
For a time, she took over his home, and at any given
time, 5 to 10 of her friends were living in his home.
Elliot would leave in the morning, and come home at night, sometimes stepping over strangers passed out on the floor.
(13:53):
One day, she brought home a gentleman with a gunshot wound,
and they cleaned and dressed his wound in Elliot's bathroom.
At this point, Elliot's mental health was so far gone, that it did not bother him at all.
It was not until Elliot heard a knock on his door one evening.
It was his landlord, who asked Elliot to step outside.
(14:15):
The landlord explained that two detectives came to his residence with pictures of people dealing in the street
in front of Elliot's duplex, and the landlord was able to stop a raid on Elliot's apartment.
This was a significant wake-up call.
That same evening, Elliot told the lady and her friends to get out.
So, they left, and Elliot decided to get counseling to get his head back on straight.
(14:39):
A few weeks later, Elliot learned from the lady's sister that she had passed away from an overdose.
Elliot eventually became a strong advocate for people with disabilities, and has
a very low tolerance of the mistreatment of people towards each other.
The crux of a civil right, then, is not a law, nor
is it a regulation, and it's not even a judicial court's ruling.
(15:02):
The crux of a civil right exists among our inner social platforms of friends, family, and colleagues.
It's when we get punished for making a lifestyle choice that goes against the prejudice
of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, and disability by our family and friends.
Then they make us feel guilty and pressure us to follow
(15:25):
how they would choose instead of how we would freely choose.
Dr. King was seeking help for a mental health disability shortly before his assassination.
There is no doubt in my mind that his mental health issue was created
by all the hate he witnessed, and prejudice, it is an act of hate.
Today, we call this neurodiversity, that when people face discrimination, hardship, and prejudice,
(15:47):
it gives them a disability in the form of poor mental health.
I wish I could say that there is a happy ending to
the story of Elliot and Maria, but unfortunately, there is not.
Elliot views Maria as a victim because, her family and friends, attacked her confidence and self-esteem, for
choosing to marry a blind man, and for the willingness to give birth, to a blind baby.
(16:12):
When family and friends try to enforce their prejudiced beliefs on others, it often
leads to much pain and suffering, with no hopes of peace and joy.
The only hope that remains, then, is that people can let other people make their own choices,
and instead of judging, they can make a different choice to love and support each other.
(16:33):
This, then, is the true crux of a civil right, is at the inner social
level among family and friends, and once the crux of this civil right gets resolved,
then indeed, pain and hardship will transform, into peace and joy, for all.
The Advocate for Success. Season 1, Episode 10, The Crux of a Civil Right.
(00:06):
Produced by, Elton Thomas
Empowerment, can be expressed, through your apparel.
[Visit the MissionAdvocate store on Etsy at, www.etsy.com/shop/MissionAdvocate.
(00:30):
Elliot and Maria had been married for three years.
They live in a complex in the city and enjoy their simple life.
Elliot is legally blind, and Maria is fully sighted.
While Maria faced pressure from her family and friends not to marry
Elliot because of his disability, she found Elliot to be very independent.
(00:51):
For instance, even though they have a car, Elliot still takes the bus to work
so that his wife does not have to be burdened to provide his transportation.
One of Maria's coworkers at an eye clinic she worked at, who was very much against their relationship, told
her that since Elliot was the man in the relationship, then he should be driving her to work.
While Maria considered her friend's suggestion, she also pointed out Elliot's good qualities, like
(01:16):
how he is a good cook, has a stable job, and is reliable.
But still, many of her family and friends were against the relationship because they could not see beyond his disability.
Elliot has an eye disease known as Retinitis Pigmentosa.
While his vision is severely limited; he chose to work hard and
(01:37):
stopped receiving government benefits for his disability shortly after graduating high school.
Elliot is a supervisor at a manufacturing facility, and has not missed a
scheduled day of work in the seven years he's been with the company.
His company provides a great benefits package and an excellent pension program.
There is no doubt that Elliot and Maria are ready to start, a family.
(02:04):
For much of the 20th century, disabled people were subject to horrendous treatment.
They were often abused, sterilized, and euthanized because they did not fit society's ideals of normality.
People with disabilities were considered to be unproductive and a burden on the economy.
As a result, they were not given the same rights or opportunities as other citizens of their country.
(02:28):
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many advancements were made in the medical field for people with disabilities.
This included the discovery of antiseptic surgery by Joseph Lister in
1865, which helped to increase survival rates of physical disabilities.
The first hospitals for the "handicapped" were also opened during this time,
(02:50):
as well as industrial schools that trained disabled children for jobs.
This was a time of significant change and modernization for the world.
It was a time of globalization through transportation technology, popular music, and global economies.
People became more and more accepting of each other as time went on;
however, people began to question the social structures that were put in place.
(03:14):
For example, in the late 19th and early 20th century, a movement called Eugenics caught on.
This was when people believed that certain diseases, disabilities, and traits,
like criminality and addiction, were hereditary and should be eliminated.
The main reason for this movement was that it was thought that these
(03:34):
genetic defects were a drain on the economy and would cause moral decay.
People who had disabilities were also considered to be a burden on society because they
could not work as hard and did not contribute to the economy as others.
In the early 1900s, society viewed anyone with a physical or mental disability as being unsightly, unskilled, and unproductive.
(03:56):
They were often treated as outcasts.
They were often seen at freak shows.
In addition, they were not allowed to work in manufacturing factories
and had to rely on charity or panhandling to survive.
As the eugenics movement gained popularity in America, laws were passed that forcibly sterilized thousands of disabled people.
(04:17):
In fact, the Supreme Court of the United States even ruled that it was legal for
governments to forcibly sterilize people with disabilities in the 1927 ruling of Buck versus Bell.
During the 1960s, people with disabilities began to realize that they did not have equal rights and opportunities.
They were not accepted by the majority of society and fought for their rights as citizens.
(04:42):
Though the Civil Rights Movement was strong in the 1960s, it was not until
decades later that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law.
Although the law was a significant step in the right direction, it is
essential to remember that the struggles of people with disabilities continues, today.
(05:05):
Elliot is on his way home from work, and while he waits for his final
bus, he calls Maria to see what she would like to do for dinner.
They agree that Chinese sounds great, so Elliot calls to place an
order for pickup from a small family-owned place near their home.
On the menu are St. Paul sandwiches and fried rice.
(05:25):
They enjoy a quiet dinner and talk about their day.
After dinner, they wash up and watch a movie.
After the movie finished, they started getting ready for bed.
Maria puts her arms around Elliot, looks him in the eye,
and gently whispers, "We are going to have a baby."
Elliot's heart literally skips a beat in excitement, as they embrace each other in joy.
(05:49):
Elliot's mind races that night as he lays in bed next to his love.
He imagines going to Lamaze classes; doctor appointments; and preparing a
nursery with, a crib, baby monitor, and newly painted walls.
Of course, Elliot pictures holding his baby and being a father.
Maria asks Elliot not to tell his family until she is further along, just in case.
(06:14):
In the next few weeks, Maria drew distance from Elliot.
She told a close friend about being pregnant, and her friend posed the option to not go
through with the pregnancy because of the risk of Elliot's eye disease being passed to their child.
Maria's family also supported this idea and told her things like, "Do you really want to have to take care
(06:35):
of, two blind people?" Maria felt so overwhelmed with pressure, and Elliot interpreted her distance as being from the pregnancy,
so he thought it best to give her space and give her love and support when he could.
Elliot wakes up hearing someone crying, he looks at the clock, and it's 1 AM.
He realizes the crying is Maria, and it's coming from the other room.
(06:58):
Elliot goes to her, and she asks him to get the Vicodin from
the medicine cabinet in the orange prescription bottle with a white cap.
As Elliot walks towards the bathroom to get the medicine, he asks, "What's going on?" With tears streaming down
her face and in words that Elliot could barely understand, Maria explains that she took the day off work
(07:18):
to go with a friend, to Planned Parenthood, and they gave her a pill to end the pregnancy.
As Elliot stands there, everything turns bright white for a second, and when he comes to,
it takes him a moment to remember where he is and what is going on.
Elliot starts to feel enraged, but then he tells himself that the important
thing to do right now is to take care of his wife.
(07:42):
Whenever Maria gains any bit of energy, she apologizes to Elliot and cries loudly
as he holds her hand and tells her that everything will be alright.
For the next couple of months, Elliot and Maria grow farther apart.
They sought counseling; however, there was no saving their marriage.
All the love and passion they had for each other, was flushed down the toilet with their unborn child.
(08:11):
As the leader of America's most significant civil rights movement, Martin Luther King
Jr. shook up the United States in ways that still resonate today.
Despite the fact that he was physically disabled, King's ability to inspire others
with disabilities made him one of the most influential leaders of his time.
Gunnar Jahn, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who presented King with his award, said
(08:35):
that "by his tireless efforts, he opened the eyes of many Americans to the
insidious evil of racism and showed how people can overcome it by peaceful resistance."
King's early life was marked by the traditions of African American religious faith.
Both his father and grandfather were Baptist preachers, and he grew up on Auburn
Avenue in Atlanta, the bustling Black Wall Street of the post-Depression Era South.
(08:59):
He was also exposed to the social gospel ideas espoused by his
father and grandfather and influenced by Mohandas Gandhi's precepts of nonviolence.
He combined these with his Christian social gospel beliefs to craft a protest strategy
that relied on both mobilizations of Black churches and skillful appeals for white support.
After graduating from Morehouse College in 1944, King became the co-pastor (with his father)
(09:25):
of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and was active in local black community affairs.
In 1948, he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he won the Plafker Prize and a Crozer fellowship.
He then studied at Boston University, where he earned a doctorate in 1953.
(09:46):
During the years of the civil rights movement, King led numerous major
demonstrations that brought national attention to the struggle for racial equality.
These included the Montgomery bus boycott that integrated public transportation, the Greensboro sit-in movement that desegregated lunch counters
nationwide, and the March on Washington and Selma-to-Montgomery marches that helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
(10:11):
Led by King's philosophy of nonviolence and backed by the organizational skills of his Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), these protests often drew sympathetic media coverage and public support.
This enabled them to achieve their broader goals, including the passage
of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
(10:31):
King's recognition of the link between segregation and colonialism resulted in alliances with groups fighting oppression overseas, particularly in Africa.
In 1957, he went to Ghana at Kwame Nkrumah's invitation to attend the nation's independence ceremony.
In 1958, he traveled to South Africa to meet with labor leaders
(10:53):
and attend an SCLC-sponsored event honoring Kenyan labor leader Tom Mboya.
Although he died in 1968 at age 35, King's civil rights efforts live on.
His legacy of nonviolence, combined with the organization and persistence of his
SCLC, inspired a generation to stand up for what was right.
(11:13):
In 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union, named King among its "America's Greatest Freedom Fighters" because
of his commitment to a society that embraces all people regardless of their physical abilities.
In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, President Obama cited King's example.
(11:33):
People tend to associate civil rights leaders with skin color, but Martin Luther
King Jr also fought tirelessly on behalf of people living with disabilities.
His work helped erode the notion that separate is equal and
set an example for 54 million Americans living with disabilities.
Though the Civil Rights Movement focused on eliminating discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and national origin,
(11:59):
people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were often overlooked or disregarded in favor of other marginalized groups.
They often suffered under harsh institutions or asylums; Dr. King recognized this, emphasizing their individual right to fight for
their own rights as individuals - his words and actions inspired advocates nationwide to fight for theirs as individuals.
(12:22):
At the time of King's assassination, the Civil Rights Movement had made great strides toward creating
an all-inclusive society; however, disability rights activism was only just getting underway and needed much improvement.
The Civil Rights Movement made significant gains against discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and sex.
(12:45):
Yet, progress toward an inclusive America was slow in coming with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act
22 years after King's death, accelerating this effort toward creating an equitable and accessible society for all its citizens.
The Disability Rights Movement remains committed to increasing access for those
living with disabilities in terms of education, housing, and employment.
(13:09):
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy will serve as an
inspirational beacon to all those striving to build, a better tomorrow.
After Maria moved out, Elliot struggled with mental health issues.
He lost all hope of ever having a family and made a decision to get a vasectomy.
(13:31):
Elliot turned to alcohol, got involved with a lady who was
addicted to opioids, and tried to help her end the addiction.
For a time, she took over his home, and at any given
time, 5 to 10 of her friends were living in his home.
Elliot would leave in the morning, and come home at night, sometimes stepping over strangers passed out on the floor.
(13:53):
One day, she brought home a gentleman with a gunshot wound,
and they cleaned and dressed his wound in Elliot's bathroom.
At this point, Elliot's mental health was so far gone, that it did not bother him at all.
It was not until Elliot heard a knock on his door one evening.
It was his landlord, who asked Elliot to step outside.
(14:15):
The landlord explained that two detectives came to his residence with pictures of people dealing in the street
in front of Elliot's duplex, and the landlord was able to stop a raid on Elliot's apartment.
This was a significant wake-up call.
That same evening, Elliot told the lady and her friends to get out.
So, they left, and Elliot decided to get counseling to get his head back on straight.
(14:39):
A few weeks later, Elliot learned from the lady's sister that she had passed away from an overdose.
Elliot eventually became a strong advocate for people with disabilities, and has
a very low tolerance of the mistreatment of people towards each other.
The crux of a civil right, then, is not a law, nor
is it a regulation, and it's not even a judicial court's ruling.
(15:02):
The crux of a civil right exists among our inner social platforms of friends, family, and colleagues.
It's when we get punished for making a lifestyle choice that goes against the prejudice
of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, and disability by our family and friends.
Then they make us feel guilty and pressure us to follow
(15:25):
how they would choose instead of how we would freely choose.
Dr. King was seeking help for a mental health disability shortly before his assassination.
There is no doubt in my mind that his mental health issue was created
by all the hate he witnessed, and prejudice, it is an act of hate.
Today, we call this neurodiversity, that when people face discrimination, hardship, and prejudice,
(15:47):
it gives them a disability in the form of poor mental health.
I wish I could say that there is a happy ending to
the story of Elliot and Maria, but unfortunately, there is not.
Elliot views Maria as a victim because, her family and friends, attacked her confidence and self-esteem, for
choosing to marry a blind man, and for the willingness to give birth, to a blind baby.
(16:12):
When family and friends try to enforce their prejudiced beliefs on others, it often
leads to much pain and suffering, with no hopes of peace and joy.
The only hope that remains, then, is that people can let other people make their own choices,
and instead of judging, they can make a different choice to love and support each other.
(16:33):
This, then, is the true crux of a civil right, is at the inner social
level among family and friends, and once the crux of this civil right gets resolved,
then indeed, pain and hardship will transform, into peace and joy, for all.
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