The K Experience

Martin Luther King Jr - More Than Just "A Dream"

Present - Here and Now

Wednesday, 23 January 2008

Martin Luther King Jnr

On Monday the USA celebrated the 22nd anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr Day, in honour of the late baptist minister and civil rights leader. Although he is known throughout the world for his stance against racial injustice in the 50's and 60's in America, very few are aware of his works apart from his most famous "I have a dream" speech of August 1963.

Martin Luther King Jr, the son of a baptist minister was so named not just after his father Martin Luther King Sr, but after the 16th century German monk Martin Luther, who was considered to be the founder of protestantism. Just as Martin Luther brought reform to the world in a controversial way in the 16th century by bringing the bible to the people, Martin Luther King Jr did the same by striving and succeeding, to a great degree, in bringing racial equality and civil rights to the nation in which he lived.

Rosa Parks Arrested As well as the speech of August 1963, King gave at least 14 other influential speeches, his last "I have been to the mountain top" being given the day before his death, (the speech hinted of some ill that would befall him in the near future). He was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam war of 1967, and voiced his opinion in his speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence". He was instrumental in the creation of The Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1965, and he Led the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 (after the Rosa Parks Incident). His influence also crossed the borders inspiring the black conciousness movement and civil rights movement of South Africa.

Now 40 years after his assasination, a lot has changed, but a lot is still the same. Yes blacks can sit on buses while whites stand, without fear of reprisal. Blacks by law, can expect the same treatment and pay at work as whites. However, it seem that the physical and outright discrimination has just been replaced by economic and educational disadvantage. This is the case not just in the United States but also in Britain.

The following is an extract from The New American Media, about the state of economic stability in USA.

"... the median net worth of the average African American family is ten times less than the average White family, ($6,166 versus $67,000 respectively). This is largely due to the difference in home ownership, home equity values and income. Blacks own nearly 50 percent of their homes, while Whites own over 70 percent of their homes."
(written Apr 04, 2006)

The following is from The New Black Magazine, and is about the state of schools in the UK.

"According to a study carried out by Ofsted, the government’s inspector of schools, when African-Caribbean children start school at 4 years old, their attainment is 20% above average. By the time they leave school, aged 16, however, this has reversed to 21% below the national average."
(written December 12, 2007)

It seem the world still has a long way to go, and we need others to fight like Martin Luther King Jr fought. It seems like just because things are getting a little better, people have stopped concentrating on improvement. I attended the Kingdom Day parade at Crenshaw Blvd in Los Angeles this year, which was a great experience. Although, I wonder how many of those present knew of the real struggle, that blacks faced not just during King's time but before it, and how many of those were aware of their current situation.

People at Kingdom Day Parade - LA

Going back to the struggle before that of King, one must also recognize the other influential blacks that often go unmentioned such as Marcus Garvey, Steve Biko and W.E.B. Dubois to mention but a few (just to counter any backlash, Malcolm X, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandella among others, need no mention as they are already popular figures, however I have just mentioned them anyway).

Martin Luther King Jr Day comes only once a year. Don't wait until then to get educated. Many of those reading this have only heard the "I have a dream" speech, maybe not even that, but only know that there was one. Youtube and wikipedia are easy sources of information, use them for something other than dodgy videos and Crazy Taxi (current wikipedia featured article on the computer game). I shall give you a helping hand by placing some links and videos at the end. I shall definitely be buying books and researching more myself, I hope you can do the same.