I often ask myself, what can I do to impact lives, to encourage change? You tried to change a nation and a world. We say our nation is all about inclusion and acceptance, but if we are honest with ourselves, we must face that fact that it took until 1986 for MLK Day to become a national holiday and that we still have a long way to go to become the nation he wanted us to be. My time as a collegiate coach has helped me see that not all people of color find it easy to navigate through predominately white institutions, places of work, or even social settings. I will never understand why so many hold on to hate toward people they don’t even know and have never tried to understand. And I will never understand why racial equality is so difficult for our nation. Whenever I hear people singing Stevie’s version of “Happy Birthday,” I’m reminded of that day and those tears. I’m really not sure how I was able to resolve my feelings, but I was always able to adjust and adapt and make my way among all people, despite race or any other differences. Louis, I just wanted friends more than I wanted to hate. Or perhaps being one of very few black people at the time in the Ladue school district in St. Perhaps at a young age I realized quickly that Jody and Karen had nothing to do with the assassination of MLK. Until recess when it was time to play with Jody and Karen. And the next day, I went to school filled with hate. It is probably one of the saddest moments in my life. My mom explained, “they killed him.” When I asked who “they” were, she told me, “White people killed him because they didn’t like what he was trying to do for black people and for the country.” I didn’t know what that meant, so I asked for more of an explanation. This particular year, as we were twirling around singing the song, I asked, “Where is Martin Luther King now, Mother?” My mom would pick me up and dance with me in her arms. But in the Smith household, there were always two constants on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday: no one went to school or work, and the record player had Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” album blaring, with me going over to replay “Happy Birthday” again and again. And by the time I was in first grade, I was used to a very meaningful tradition in my family.Īt this point in time, MLK Day was not yet recognized as a national holiday. My brother and I knew about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, even. Generations just copying tradition without knowing the origin. It wasn’t until I asked a group of our student-athletes here at Cal (who were more “woke” than most) if they knew who the song was intended for, that I understood the disconnect.
We’ll appease people and sing the traditional version all the way through, then immediately bust out in the more enthusiastic rendition Stevie released in 1980.įor a long time, I thought every black person knew the meaning behind the song. The Stevie Wonder version of “Happy Birthday” is very popular in the Black community.
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