Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr.

It’s 2015 and we live in world that still sees man and judge’s man by the color of his skin. Now let’s step back in time fifty something years ago. The lines have been drawn whites on one side and African Americans on the other. Where would you be standing, would it be on the forefront of the battle lines fighting for equality or shouting from the rooftops racial slurs and spreading hate? We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given to by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”(King, 2). Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American and is one of the many faces of the civil rights movement in the 60s. He was on the forefront of the movement on up until his death on April 04, 1968. One of his many

was a well-educated man and knew that for change to happen their needed to be action taken. However the action that needed to be taken was the nonviolent kind, he only wanted to be heard and give the black man a voice. King was among many people who helped start and lead rallies and marches through the cities of Alabama. It was in these rallies and marches that led to protests and sit-ins that he was able to give speeches on civil rights. Many of the rallies and marches that he participated in often landed him on the wrong side of the law enforcement and ended with him in handcuffs and eventually sitting in a jail cell alongside of his fellow “brothers” who also participated in the rally or

It would be easy to say that we live in a world where people are given the same opportunities and are able to overcome the obstacles placed in front of us. However that’s not the case, the South in 2010 contained the highest arrest rate in the nation and just under half, 47%, of these arrests were black (Tsia). The arrests varied from major crimes, like murder or drug smuggling, to minor ones like public intoxication or driving without a driver’s license. Compared to the number of white arrest, black men were 6 time more likely to be arrested (Tsia). The south containing 19 of the 39 million blacks, or 48%, of the nation’s blacks, is also responsible for many police brutality and shootings that have been taken to a grand jury and made national news coverage (FBI). The most recent one in the news today was in Ferguson, Missouri. The incident was that a black male was shot and killed for allegedly attacking a cop in his patrol car. Although the jury ruled the cop not guilty, many blacks around the country felt as if the cop shot and killed the young man unjustly. This incident caused outraged protesters, much like King did in the 60s, filling the street demanding equal rights and claiming that cops are targeting the black community for