The Continual Struggle

I’ve never met Brian Washington, but he touches my heart. Brian’s bold, charcoal drawings paint a vivid picture of a dark time in our history and tell the story of the struggle to find the light.

I am a child of the Sixties. As I study his amazing artwork, now on exhibit at the LBJ Library, I’m transported back to my elementary school cafeteria in 3rd grade. It was April 5, 1968, one day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by an assassin’s bullet. I remember feeling deeply sad. I couldn’t really contemplate why. I was likely reflecting the sorrow I saw in my parents’ eyes. They both took part in Civil Rights marches and were great admirers of Dr. King.

I turned to a classmate during lunch and innocently said, “ I can’t believe they killed Martin Luther King.” She coldly replied, “ I’m glad, my dad said he was an evil man!” I was crestfallen and confused. My 8–year-old brain was unable to decipher this disparate view of Dr. King’s death. How could her parents see such hate in MLK …when mine saw great hope?

Brian’s masterful drawings mirror a time in our history  when hope had an upper hand on hate. His works chronicle the unwavering spirit of ordinary people willing to risk their lives, take to the streets and protest a great injustice.