This blog piece was written by one of our students, Bridget. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
Michelle Tyrene Johnson is a public radio journalist and award-winning playwright, from Kansas City, Missouri. And according to Pulitzer Center, she was a 2019 Pulitzer Center grantee. With this grantee, Michelle had the opportunity to work in-depth on an innovative project focused on Dr. Martin Luther King. Specifically focused on the differing representations of Dr. Martin Luther King, stating “As Americans, we think we know Dr. King in America but we don’t know the global version. We know the ‘Santa Claus’ version.”
This project spanned across three areas, Senegal West Africa, Amsterdam, and Memphis Tennessee (the three kings). Luckily enough, St. Joseph’s Academy’s Diversity Club and Global Education program had the opportunity to listen in on her experience.
Initially, Michelle started her journey in Senegal, West Africa. While many individuals (the majority being white) would assume that a black person’s experience in Africa would be typical, Michelle’s trip proves otherwise. When arriving with blue hair, Michelle was automatically associated with white America. Yet this association did not hold her back from engaging with the civilians. She asked about medina boulevard, and schools, both named after Dr. Martin Luther King. Yet the response she got was not expected. In response, these civilians did not think that much into the name but simply viewed it as another street or school.
Continuing her travels, Michelle landed in Amsterdam. While traveling as a black woman in Amsterdam, Michelle recollets “there was not a moment where I felt people asking or thinking what I was doing there” (not to say there were no prejudices). Similar to Senegal, civilians did not think much about the park and suburb named after Dr. Martin Luther King. One native noted that “even though things are named after famous people I might not even know them.”
After spending quite some time abroad Michelle landed in Tennessee. Every place Michelle recollected had a somewhat “disappointing” recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King. But this is no different than America. In Tennessee, there was a deliberate placement of the street named after Dr. Martin Luther King. The street name was partially placed in a racially divided neighborhood. When I say partially placed I mean that Michelle saw the street in the black part of the neighborhood named after Dr. Martin Luther King, but when the street reached the white part of the neighborhood it went back to a different street name.
One question that arose while listening to Michelle was “why are there no heroes from other countries in America when Dr. Martin Luther King is in other countries?” In response, she confidently stated that the cultural notion of America valuing how history solely impacts us fails to let us recognize other countries’ heroes.
Undoubtedly, the global version of Dr. Martin Luther King varies, and the traveling experiences of black women are eye-opening. St. Joseph’s Academy thanks Michelle Tyrene Johnson for her time and unique perspective.
