Yesterday, along with the rest of the country, the House of Delegates remembered Martin Luther King, Jr., with a terrific speech by my colleague Delegate Keith Haynes. For me, Martin Luther King Day frequently begins with a special honor — breakfast with Colonel Charles McGee, Congressional Gold Medal winner, Air Force legend, and member of the famed “Tuskeegee Airmen.”
Col. McGee unfailingly buys a table of seats to the Alpha Phi Alpha breakfast held to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, and I often am among his guests. This privilege does not come from any political status – rather, it is because I am a close friend of his grandson, Damon Smith, and I get a seat along side the rest of the family.
It’s a position of honor. Many of the guests – particularly Alphas – bypass me and the rest of the politicians and seek out handshakes and photographs with Col. McGee, and well they should. McGee and his colleagues are inspirational figures, airmen and mechanics whose love of country and tremendous talent superseded bias and discrimination.
The nation-wide tributes and memorials to Dr. King are richly deserved and are an important vehicle to keep civil rights on the minds of our citizenry. For me, the best part is my chance to visit and pay tribute to a personal hero (and constituent), “Papa ‘Gee.” I would offer more of the details of this exceptional man’s story, but I doubt a blog post could do him justice. To learn more about Col. McGee, you can read a short online bio here, or buy his biography, written by his daughter, here.
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