Martin Luther King Jr.

[ZNP]

I am reminded of my uncle on this day. He lived in Jackson Ms during the 60s when black churches were being bombed and burned by the KKK. He started a charity with a rabbi (he was a lay minister) to help the churches and it was called "operation shoestring". It reminds me of the poor widow who cast in two mites. Then in 1967 the KKK bombed his house. I was only 7 or 8 at the time. But I was very excited. In our house the NY Times was central to all our discussions (my dad and mom were both journalists) so even at that age I knew that the civil rights battle was front page news and now my uncle is on the front page, he is in the very middle of this battle and he is on the side of the good guys. After the bombing the ministry moved him and his family to Washington DC so we went down to visit him. All of their belongings were in boxes in this one room apartment (he was married with two kids). They didn't have any furniture so we sat on the floor and slept on the floor (there were six of us so altogether there were ten of us in this apartment). I thought this was exciting. But I soon learned not everyone in the family was so thrilled. His brother, my other uncle also lived in Jackson. His last name was Kochtitzky, there used to be 2 people in Jackson named Kochtitzky until the bombing when my uncle moved out, so now my other uncle is alone in the city with his family, a "marked man". Today everyone can look back and know that he was right in his stand. But I can assure you at the time even those who knew he was standing for righteousness questioned whether he lacked prudence, lacked wisdom, put others at risk, etc.