Change Against Racial Oppression and Martin Luther King

“Free at last” were the words of a legendary man who would later inspire change throughout the world. Through his panoply of work, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the popular idea of African Americans being of less status than “white men”. His I Have a Dream speech is recognized across the world, not only as inspiration for blacks everywhere, but also as a prime example of non-violent civic activism. King’s main objective was to achieve the equality that blacks had been deprived of. He discussed the issues of racial discrimination, segregation, and political and economic justice by means of public speeches that spanned throughout America. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man willing to challenge the status quo by disassociating himself from the unified beliefs of his generation.

Through his rhetoric use of language, he was able to expose blacks to the true meaning behind the degrading behaviors that they’ve endured for many years. African Americans have been the target of racial discrimination whether it was in the form of segregation, political or economical injustice. It was primarily in the 1960s when King campaigned most extensively. Events such as the Montgomery bus boycott, in which the African American community boycotted all Montgomery city buses due to segregation, were ones that helped catalyze his campaign. Figures such as Rosa Parks, who was involved in the bus boycott, helped create the face of this movement. Stemming from the segregation of blacks from society, there was also an unjust treatment in political and economical issues. Those of colour were not eligible to vote under the constitutional voting rights. This made the segregation much more widespread across the US as it affected African Americans on a large...

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...th the demanding and powerful confidence coming from his voice, Martin Luther King states that “there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights” (King). Many feel as though his speech was able to “exert such a potent hold on people around the world and cross the generations” (Kakutani). Others believe that “Martin Luther Kings’ worldview negatively affects blacks today”, as stated by Ellis Washington in A Critique of Dr.Martin Luther King. Washington states that the civil rights movement, lead by King, “laid all of black America’s demands (…) at the feet of white America” (Washington). A flaw of King that is believed to have affected the black community today is that rather than pushing the black community to take on roles that made them equal to white America, they instead demanded that equality from them.