Message from YR Media CEO, Kyra Kyles
Around this time of year, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is everywhere.
Staring serenely from school bulletin boards.
In living color on the pages of children's books.
On grainy video aired in reverential news reports and broadcast through podcasts and terrestrial radio.
From his mellifluous voice to that distinctive arm raise and his impeccable suits, these visuals and audio snippets remind us of his legacy of equity.
They also remind us of his sense of shared humanity and an urgency to address the plight of “poor people” of all ilks that he marched on behalf of until his tragic assassination on April 4, 1968.
On this day, we collectively remember his battles against racism and his seeming grace in the face of even the ugliest expressions of bigotry. Our ears ring with his powerful speeches.
The man, the activist, the father, the husband, the reverend comes alive for us at this time each year, and we are re-gifted one of his greatest powers: the ability to tell a story.
The man, the activist, the father, the husband, the reverend comes alive for us at this time each year, and we are re-gifted one of his greatest powers: the ability to tell a story.
From his clamoring cry about the mountaintop to his poignant letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. King “spoke truth to power” before those words became a popular phrase.
Through his command of language and stirring intellect, Dr. King painted clear and compelling pictures of a deeply segregated and separate country. He provided a wistful glimpse of what this same country’s future could be if its white citizens examined and rejected racist origins and systems put in place since colonialism and American slavery. He warned that he himself would not make it to this promised land, and though he was sadly accurate in that prediction, he provided those who heard him and generations to follow with hope it could still happen.
I don’t know about you, but any and every time I get to experience the moving words of Dr. King, I stop wherever I am and listen. Though some have re-imagined and even tried to water down his words, specifically his justifiable outrage, the truth is there for any who are open to seeing and hearing it. It is Dr. King’s ability to offer unassailable facts and lived experience that tie his legacy so closely to that of YR Media. Our emerging content creators are on a mission to speak the same kinds of truth to the same pillars of power.
Dr. King himself was only 19, the age of many of our content creators, when he accepted his life’s work as a future pastor and sociopolitical force of nature. He was unafraid from a young age, and as such, is a beacon of inspiration and hope for generations who didn’t get the opportunity to hear him speak firsthand.
This year, as we commemorate Dr. King, let’s do more than be in awe of his storytelling acumen, his eloquence and ability to sway the masses through a combination of intellectual and emotional appeals. We can continue to uplift who he was and what he contributed to the world by investing and believing in the next generation who are carrying on his desire to inform and uplift.
Join the media movement today.
