Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's. speech not only inspired change, but eventually it brought the union in between races. The white and the blacks. After the given speech of Dr. King Jr. many people began to fight for their rights, civil rights that is, they were tired of the suppression in society. His speech changed the life of tons of people. This "I have a dream" speech eventually led to new laws that would end the segregation between the blacks and whites. No more "separate but equal", with his perserverance and strong leadership and a "wanting" to change the way society was set at the time, perspectives and systems began to change. His power of speech, his courage, his generosity, and his genuinity brought him many followers, black people as well as white people. People that were ready for a change, people that were ready to put an end to such non-sence as the segregation was, as the "separate but equal" law was, they were still segregated and there was no equality between the both of them. His speech was letting people know how unfairly blacks were treated. His speech or speeches were definitely inspirational and life changing. If it weren't for his perserverance and strong speeches like "I have a dream" society wouldn't be what it is today.
Considering that he was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., it was a perfect venue to have this speech, Abraham Lincoln was a man that fought for justice too, he freed the slaves. He wrote what is known as the Emancipation Proclamation. With that being said, Dr. King Jr. could not have chosen a better venue, that had such significance and symbolism to to the black people, if t weren't for Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, perhaps slaves would have still existed at the time of Dr. King Jrs. time. It connects to the level that, here is the statue of a man that had freed the slaves and that fought for the freeing of the slaves. Yet there was still racism and segregation, all they wanted was to be equal to everyone else, to have the rights that whites had, to go to the same school and not have to be separated from classes, not have different water fountains, buses, to drink from to ride from, equality was all they wanted. The venue gave out that significance to the people that were present as well as Dr. King Jr. that was giving the speech.
People began revolt against the unfair treatments, that were given to them, the unfair and lack of equality. They began to fight for Civil Rights, just like Martin luther King Jr. had been doing for the past years. In the south there were many people that were against Black people wanting to gain Civil Rights. There was also people that approached the Civil rights liberty with such class, tranquility, and peacefulness. They were not ready to be satisfied with the way they were treated and in the words of Mr. Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs. speech " I have a Dream",
"There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
I appreciated your hyphenation of the word nonsense as you expounded on the stupidity of the law 'separate but equal.' There truly was nothing fair about segregation in the first place. I am surprised how long it took for decent Americans to understand that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was certainly a good location for his speech, I find it ironic how Lincoln is so revered for his Emancipation Proclamation when he was the main instrument for the forced mass exodus of Native Americans from their rightful homesteads. So he freed blacks and enslaved the indian. Funny how some people's definition of progress is different from others, isn't it?
I find it important to remember how peaceful Luther's approach to the enlightenment of Americans as to the black man's situation was. The paragraph you quote at the end of your blog brought me to tears as I read it the first time. It will bring tears again. It is so hard for me to fathom a time in our history when a man treated another man with such contempt. Much good has come from Luther's work, but the product of so many years of discrimination has left so many in its wake. It's hard to say when there will ever be equal ground for all humanity.