Martin Luther King Matchman Speech Analysis

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “I have a Dream,” he inspires the crowd to take a stand with the following words, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Clay felt like he had been quite for far too long, listening to Lula the Hyena harass him with her belittling words. Lula tells lies, is deceitful, and manipulative; these characteristics represent the oppressive white community. I will describe to you how Clay’s reactions, Dutchman, were solely based on Lula preying upon his weaknesses, like the troubles that the black race felt while battling Civil Rights.

Dutchman showcases the feelings of the black community during the Civil Rights movement. They felt like no matter how hard they tried, they would

During this period, people rallied for social, legal, political and cultural changes to prohibit discrimination and end segregation,” (Roy). In 1964, the year Dutchman was written, the Civil Rights Act was established. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade discrimination in public places and by any program that received federal government funding,” stated on learingtogive.org (Roy). I think LeRoi Jones made the Lula character to show that no matter how many laws are passed that the white community will continue to discriminate based on the color of someone’s skin rather than the person and the white community would continue to lie to “control the world.”

The theme of LeRoi Jones 's Dutchman, is Civil Rights and treatment of the black community. Lula invites Clay to look down on different cultures when she says, “I mean, we’ll look in all the shopwindows, and make fun of the queers. Maybe we’ll meet a Jewish Buddhist and flatten his conceits over some very pretentious coffee,” (Jones, 23). She seems enjoy bullying anyone different and targets them with her criticisms. Lula hints to her prejudices ' throughout her conversation with Clay, showing she has no concept of other cultures and has blind

When Clay seems to reject Lula, she takes away his energy by stabbing him in the chest with a small knife. The most disturbing part of the play that had the largest impact on me, was the passengers. Both black and white subway passengers did nothing to stop Lula from stabbing Clay or said anything after. They tossed Clay off the subway like a piece trash. They showed no compassion or sympathy for Clay or the situation. All the people on the subway were indifferent and aided Lula in disposing of Clay 's body. This represents how the black community felt like they were being treated like animals and not human beings working toward the same goals. Lynching didn 't stop until the 1930 's when the NCAAP began to publicly announce lynching statistics to shame the state officials, (Everett, 2009). People look the other way when they do not want to address an issue. Native Americans, African Americans, and women are examples of some minorities that still battle indignities and irrational hatred.

The subway passengers would not take a stand against an injustice right before their eyes. Injustices were in their lives everyday and what was another one? The subway passengers seemed to be desensitized toward the pain. Clay lived out the lyrics in Bessie Smiths song, Downhearted Blues,“Trouble, Trouble, I’ve had it all my days. It seems that trouble’s going to follow me to my grave,” (Bessie Smith, Downhearted