In 2025, I decided at the last second that I was going to try to post something on my Facebook account every day for Black History Month. Honestly, I was expecting that it would be easy to find things online that I could repost without much effort. When it turned out to be harder than I had expected to find such material, I started writing my own. And it turned into a meaningful experience for the month—at least for me! I learned a lot and found myself drawn into the lives of people I had never heard of while also learning much more about people who were barely more than names to me. And I heard from a lot of my FB friends and acquaintances that they enjoyed the posts too.

For 2026, I’ve decided to repost many of those pieces here on my blog throughout this month. I don’t expect to get the same kind of engagement that I did on Facebook, but at least I know that I control this space—not Mark Zuckerberg. There is SO MUCH negativity in the world right now, and many voices are being raised in anger. Some of that anger is righteous anger, in my opinion, and I’m in no way trying to stop protests of injustices that need to be protested. But for at least one month, I’m gonna retreat to my little corner and try to focus on some positive history every day.

I’m starting the month by posting again a piece that I originally wrote as an op-ed for the print edition of the Ventura County Star newspaper—probably more than 20 years ago—and first posted on this website in 2017. Although I’ve updated it slightly, I think it still expresses quite well why I feel drawn to celebrate Black History month this year.

If you enjoy what I’m doing, check back all month!

CELEBRATING MARTIN LUTHER KING

For many years, I considered Martin Luther King, Jr., to be a hero–for somebody else.

Yes, I admired him and what he did, and I believed that he should be remembered and honored for how his work improved and changed the future of the country. But only in recent years have I begun to understand how King and the civil rights movement have made my life as an Anglo woman richer and fuller than would have been possible in the segregated, separated society I was born into.

From preschool through college, in various workplaces, at church, in my neighborhood, and in virtually every walk of life, I have been blessed by acquaintances, co-workers and friends I might never have met if not for Dr. King. And there are many people I will probably never meet but who have enriched my life nevertheless. If not for King, would I ever had the pleasure of watching Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant play basketball? Or heard James Earl Jones’ incomparable voice? Would I have been challenged by the literature of Toni Morrison or Richard Wright? Would I have had the chance to watch Oprah Winfrey connect with people of all races?

Many years ago, I found myself mesmerized at a performance by Maya Angelou. And while listening to her spellbinding stories and poems, I realized how much I would have missed if only African American audiences had been given the chance to see her, to hear her, to read her works. How grateful I am that white people no longer have to pretend that only other white people have anything worthy to offer.

I know that my life is richer and fuller today because King helped our country to stop seeing only in black and white. In the almost sixty years since his death, America has begun to see in the colors of the rainbow, to celebrate our differences and our similarities, to learn from each other and to appreciate each other.

And for the blessings his life and work have added to my life and work, I celebrate Martin Luther King as a hero–my hero.