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 …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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
Since the dawn of time, there has always existed the concept of good vs evil. Normally, this concept is used to explain two forces battling against each other in order to influence people’s actions. However, these concepts also exist on a realistic level; although the realistic form is based on race rather than morals. Like a recessive gene, black people were suppressed by the dominant gene, white people, in the 1950’s. With the white race oppressing the black race being a colossal dilemma, few people chose to solve it. Among them were Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. While King wanted to solve the problem with peace, Malcolm knew the only way to solve the dispute was fighting back. Malcolm X was born in 1925 in Omaha Nebraska, and was one
Out of the turbulent political climate of the 1960s, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as some of the most prominent voices of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Both religious ministers took up the fight to advocate for human rights and improve the lot of their fellow African-Americans. The two sought to achieve the same endgame, but differed greatly on the method in which to bring about the change they wanted. A few common threads that linked the activists were their emphasis on human rights, their challenge to the status quo of America, their roles as major spiritual leaders in their respective religions, and the martyrdom they endured for their cause. On the surface Malcolm X and Martin Luther King have many similarities,
Perhaps one of his most sustained acts was his ability to represent the plight of African American rights while simultaneously portraying a palatable character to White America. In addition to leading various civil disobedience campaigns, he served as the movement’s main “strategist, theorist, and symbol maker” while also becoming the “movement’s chief interpreter to white Americans.” Stewart Burns actually goes so far as to suggest King, early on, realized his destiny was to be both a black Moses, delivering his brothers from the injustice of Jim Crow, as well as a Christ-like figure, offering equal measures of love, compassion, and forgiveness. This of course caused him to be disliked and criticized amongst some of the more nationalist and militant black leaders of the time, but inversely, allowed many Americans to sympathize with the movement’s main goals.
King was greatly influenced by the factors that affected his childhood that led him to develop the thinking to stand up against the issues mainly because he grew up in the city of Atlanta where he very specifically faced racial segregation. He belonged to a middle class family and even though getting a prestigious education he faced discrimination amongst from the very start. At a very early age of 6 years he was first rejected by his close friend because of his color. During his early teenage he suffered from depression and even attempted suicide with mixed racial feelings of being a fully capable
Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Since there is a mass incarceration of African Americans, it is believed that African Americans are the cause of the severe increase of crimes. This belief has been sent out implicitly by the ruling class through the media. The media send out coded messages that are framed in abstract neutral language that play on white resentment that targets minorities. Disproportionate arrest is the result of racial disparities in the criminal justice system rather than disproportion in offenders. The disparities in the sentencing procedure are ascribed to racial discrimination. Because police officers are also biased, people of color are more likely to be investigated than whites. Police officers practice racial profiling to arrest African Americans under situations when they would not arrest white suspects, and they are more likely to stop African Americans and see them as suspicious (Alexander 150-176). In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and her comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. Fine believes it is critical to draw attention to the reality in why African Americans are being arrested at a much higher rate. This article reflects the ongoing racial issue by focusing on the injustice in treatment by police officers and the youth of color who are victims. This article is successful in being persuasive about the ongoing racial iss...
During the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. had become the “moral leader” and icon of the Civil Rights Movement. King had transformed into the martyr of the movement and spoke at around two hundred civil rights activism events a year. Still, King was torn between being the martyr for his people and showing support for other organizations with oppositional views. In Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, Taylor Branch illustrates the counter narrative of Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggles towards progress within the movement to the FBI, and the Kennedy Administration’s lack of involvement with civil rights, which blocked King’s progress as a successful black leader to prolong the unity of the movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a key figure in the fight for the equality of African Americans. King had a great impact on the Civil Rights Movement, and had a nonviolent method of achieving what he did. Dr. King is a well-known Civil Rights Activist who gave his life for his cause. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he addresses his fellow clergyman on the topic of segregation and the protests against it. King is well known for his nonviolent protests, and even the participants of the event have to ask themselves during a period of self-purification, “‘Are you able to accept blows without retaliating? ', and ‘Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail? ' “(King). King believed that nonviolent protest were better to use because "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue," (King). King believes that nonviolent tension is
Martin Luther King, Jr. experienced throughout his lifetime due to racism, he still insists that African Americans should find unity with whites. Throughout his speech, King repetitively references a unity between all races in harmony. He states, “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom” (King, 1968, p. 2). The white men and women that made their appearance at the speech and throughout the Civil Rights Movement fought for equality in some of the most destructive ways. Wealthy businessmen like Jonathan Myrick Daniels and Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer paid the ultimate price of the lives all in the name of justice between the races. Reverend James Reeb and Viola Gregg Liuzzo also gave their lives during the Selma march while protecting children from the gunfire that shook the streets (“Civil Rights Martyrs, n.d.” p. 69). When King begins to formulate the dream that he has for America to become, he states, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” (King, 1968, p. 3). Although it was white people that hurt him and the people that he cared about, Dr. King still wanted to include those same white persons in all things good that were to come from their
In America, police brutality affects and victimizes people of color mentally and socially. Social injustice has become a major issue, which involved the principle of white supremacy vs minorities. The current police brutality that has been occurring is culturally disconnecting ethnicities from one another. According to Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, “…the cultural disconnect is very real; you have the weight of generations of abuse on African Americans,” (Flatow, 2016). For example, over the past four years, there have been countless acts of police brutality. The three key deaths of Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling have become the face of police brutality in the year 2016. People knew that it was unequal treatment of black people by police in the United States and they made it known by creating #BlackLivesMatter.
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King and Alberta Williams King became the parents of a small child who eventually grew up to be one of the most influential individuals in the country. His name was Michael—better known as Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted to convince Americans to join the civil rights cause. While he was doing this, he became one of the most important leaders of the American Civil Rights movement. He encouraged people to disobey laws that were not fair and to accept the punishments for them. He wanted to stand up for the rights of African American people. It wasn’t an easy journey for him and although he didn’t bring an end to racial discrimination by himself, he overcame many challenges and was a major part in leading America in the right direction.
Dr. Martin Luther King JR. was one of the world’s greatest leader. He started out as an preacher from Atlanta Georgia, then progressed his self up King believed in doing things the right way without trouble and violence to himself or others.
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.
There once was a speech made, from a man who was admired and looked up too by many people. His name was Martin Luther King and he had stood up for his own race. Back then “King was arrested, [had] his home bombed, subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a leader for the first rank of blacks” (Life Books). With this in mind, it has showed us that Martin Luther King was a leader for most people. He had wanted everyone to have equal rights and ...
Martin Luther King Jr is one of the wisest and bravest black man the world has ever seen. He has set the path way for the black community and other miniorities. In his Nobel Prize Speech the “Quest for Peace and Justice”, King had three major points that he addressed in the “Quest of Peace and Justice”. One of the points he made was about racial injustice and how we need to eliminate it. King stated that, “when civilization shifts its basic outlooks then we will have a freedom explosion”. Overtime things must change, nothing never stays the same. King’s way of making parallels with this is making the claim is saying, “Oppressed people can’t oppressed forever, and the yearning will eventually manifest itself”. He insisted that blacks have,
Martin Luther King Jr. was the most influential leader of the American Civil Rights Movement as he fought for the freedom of African Americans. King’s most influential speech is his “I Have a Dream” given on August 28, 1963.1 King himself was a man whom thousands of people admired. Martin Luther King Jr. uses an expressive tone in his speeches by using verbal powerful imagery toward his audience, reminding them of the challenges facing them and defeating racism. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired others to take action, lead by example, as shown in his speeches and promoted non-violence as a method for change.