Thinking About Martin Luther King

Last year about this time, Elaine and Lisa sent some (4/5 year old) children from the Rainbow room to the studio because they wanted to make a birthday song for Martin Luther King. Here is a little bit of their conversation as they made instruments to accompany the song:

Charlie "He (Martin) used to be a good-est person of all and he said
'It makes no fair that some children be in a bad school and somebody else’s children be in a good school. I want all my children to be in a fair place. Not a bad place'!"

Anna "What if you grow up and you make speeches into a microphone?'”

Kirsten "I would say ‘Everyone!, you should eat fruits and veggies, and not too much candy, and listen to what Martin Luther King says! No, people! Do not hate people! Love everybody, don’t hate anybody! It’s fair!, it’s fair!"

Sammy "And also ‘don’t kill anybody'!"

Kirsten "Don’t shoot them with a gun!"

Sammy "Don’t kill anybody with a gun!"

Kirsten "Also children shouldn’t play with guns. Not real ones. Did you know guns are actually still available?"

Kirsten explains the group “We made maracas to do a song to celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, but not like ‘happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Martin…’ not that song.”

Anna "At first Kirsten was singing a song that had a lot of energy and was bouncy.."

Will "Sam P was singing 'Peace like a river'.. But then Charlie said ‘wait a minute, it should be a sad song'".

Charlie "Because he- Martin Luther King died".

Sammy “And we want to be kind, 'cause we are sad that Martin Luther King died, and we are tough and strong and brave".

Kirsten "Love!"

Will "And we want to be kind, for Martin Luther King…"

Charlie "and Peace!"

Sammy "and Joy!"
Sammy M., thinking about Martin Luther King in jail. "The person with the mustache is saying out 'It should be fair!'"

Kirsten "Martin got in jail because the police wanted to stop him."
Charlie "We will make a sad song for Martin Luther King because he died".

"I want to make a pretend Martin Luther King"







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