“Hey Martin, Hey Martin, Hey Martin Luther King!”
When I was in 1st grade my parents decided that we should write a rap about Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for civil rights. My brother, my brother’s best friend, Chad, and I sat in the living room with my parents brainstorming lyrics, thinking we were Jay-Z writing his next big hit. “Martin Luther King, you know the name, but do you know about his claim to fame?”, we started. Little did we know we were starting something that became one of my most memorable childhood experiences.
Once we perfected the song, we performed it in front of my brother’s 4th grade classroom over a pre-uploaded keyboard beat that sounded more like a video game theme song. We quickly became one hit wonders. The rest of the week, students in my brothers classroom ran around school screaming “Hey Martin, Hey Martin, Hey Martin Luther King!” My parents achieved their goal.
From kindergarten through 11th grade I attended Canton Public School in the town of Canton, MA — a medium-sized, mostly white suburb of Boston. Living in a four bedroom home at the end of a cul-de-sac was the true American Dream for my parents. They were both raised in the inner-city in middle- to low-income households. They were able to send my brother and me to the highly rated local public schools instead of the below average city schools we would have attended if we stayed in Dorchester.
As two descendants of slaves who were born in Tennessee and Alabama, my parents lived and experienced the Civil Rights Movement. They were 16 years old when MLK Jr. was assassinated. They have used a “blacks only” bathroom, sat in the “black section” of a restaurant, and have been forced to sit at the back of a bus. For them, it was critical that their kids understand the history of Blacks in the US. They hoped school would be an obvious place to do so.
As my mother began investigating our elementary school history curriculum, she realized it lacked a substantive lesson on African American history. The only content was that there were slaves from Africa who Abraham Lincoln rescued, and of course we would listen to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech every January. The rest of of our exposure to US History revolved around Christopher Columbus, the origins of Thanksgiving, and the Founding Fathers.
Instead of complaining until she became “that mom”, my mom decided to take matters into her own hands. She started coming in to each one of our classes to share the history and accomplishments of African Americans. (Did you know potato chips were invented by an African American man?!?) My mom was a pioneer. Instead of teaching us only at home, she brought her lessons into the classrooms, realizing it was critical for our mostly white classmates to learn about our history, too. Exposing our classmates to our culture and history helped them understand where we come from and what we value and exposed them to positive African American stories (contrasting what they were exposed to through the media). The MLK rap was a part of my mom’s curriculum.
We ended up performing the MLK rap for five years. It spread beyond my brother’s classroom to all-school assemblies at every Canton Public School, performances at multiple Boston churches, and even a performance at the Mayor’s MLK breakfast. To this day when I see people from my elementary school years, they will bring up the MLK rap. It made an impression.
In a few days we will be celebrating what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 90th birthday. Martin Luther King Jr. had a vision of a society in which race did not determine how people were treated nor how they were allowed to live their lives. Although his work was the impetus behind the end of legal segregation in the US, MLK’s vision has not been fully achieved. There are daily reminders in the news, in politics, in the workplace, etc. that race still impacts the experiences of people of color in the US.
Since I joined HubSpot over a year ago, we have made significant progress in building an environment where ALL people — regardless of background — are comfortable and can thrive. We still have a long way to go. Building this environment takes time — and truthfully, it’s hard.
When I was with my family for the holidays, I had a long chat with my mom about my first year at HubSpot and the many initiatives we are running to build an inclusive culture. I let her know as much as I wanted to be a part of the discussion, I was tired. Tired of feeling like we weren’t making progress as quickly as I would have liked, tired of having the same conversation over and over again. She reminded me of the work she did to change hearts and minds in our schools and helped me reflect on the accomplishments we’ve already made.
In a speech at a college rally, MLK said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” As all of us work to build more diverse and inclusive teams, let’s remember to build empathy and play a part in achieving MLK’s vision, and let’s keep moving forward as he wanted us to do.
Get Winston Tuggle’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
P.S — If you want to know the entire rap, here you go…
Martin Luther King, you know the name,
But do you know about his claim to fame?
He got tired of discrimination
And set out to change this nation
They threw stones and called him names,
But he kept marching just the same.
All the people, made a big fuss:
They didn’t want us in the front of the bus.
They called on Martin from across the country
To lead a Boycott, in Montgomery
He said “Sure, I’m on my way,
It’s time to change these racist ways.”
Hey Martin, Hey Martin
Hey Martin, Hey Martin
Hey Martin Luther King!
Hey Martin, Hey Martin
Hey Martin, Hey Martin
Hey Martin Luther King!
And then one day the world became very still.
There came a bullet, and Martin was killed.
The world grew quiet and very cold,
Because we lost one beautiful soul.
(Chorus)
Today I’m here, standing tall
To tell you that Martin lives in us all.
All King’s dreams have not come true,
So now it’s up to me and YOU
This story is published in Noteworthy, where 10,000+ readers come every day to learn about the people & ideas shaping the products we love.
Follow our publication to see more product & design stories featured by the Journal team.
