Martin Luther King Jr. is known as the most influential activist for black rights ever. Despite all the racism and hatred blacks received, with many blacks being brutally beaten and killed by white extremists, King fought back with nonviolent tactics such as the Montgomery bus boycott. After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man, King took advantage and led a strike where all blacks boycotted the buses, walking to work until blacks were given equal rights. he also helped organize the March on Washington, where he gave the famous "I Have A Dream" speech. This inspired many Americans, black and white alike. In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace prize. In 1968, King was assassinated on the second floor of a hotel in Tennessee.
MLK's vision of a society without regards to race or color transformed the world. Although there is still discrimination and racism present in America, King's influence has lessened racism significantly and encouraged diversity in the United States. His ideas have made the world we live in today a better place, inviting to all races and cultures. His ideas of non-violent protests also led to a huge advance in the fight for social and political equality for black Americans. He helped pass the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Something that I find most interesting about Martin Luther King is his constant commitment to nonviolence. Unlike other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, King always stuck to his ideal of nonviolence. One example of another leader who did not conform to nonviolence was Stokely Carmichael. Carmichael believed that violence was necessary in protesting. Looking back on the Civil Rights Movement, Americans tend not to realize that even within the Movement, leaders were divided on important issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Martin Luther King's idea of nonviolence in terms of fighting back against segregation as well. But on the other side of the spectrum, this idea would've had to take a long time in order for it to work. The whole idea behind segregation was because of the lack of knowledge behind diversity and how each race felt different when around each other. People during the 1800's to the 1900's were mainly focused on the idea that they were supposed to be "separate but equal" but that clearly didn't work. By fighting back the nonviolent way, the blacks were only going to be met more violence because it would've seemed like they were giving up. Although others saw it this way, the blacks saw it as a way of gaining sympathy. Although they were gaining sympathy from others, those other people didn't really do much to try and help the case, which is one of the reasons leading me to believe that maybe nonviolence wasn't really a good idea to resolve the segregation issue.
ReplyDelete