It's Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Young children in elementary schools around the country are going to school to learn about and celebrate the heroic deeds of this man. Teachers read the story that all children grow up to know: a long time ago, there was a hatred toward African Americans—"colored" people, they were called. Public properties such as libraries and restaurants were segregated, and African Americans were treated as lesser beings. Then, along came a man—Martin Luther King Jr.—who led a civil rights movement against racial segregation. He and his followers fought for the rights of African Americans to use whatever restroom they want, to get an education, and to vote for politicians. Through their persistence, the government outlawed whatever kept African Americans separate from the white population. The teacher tells the students that, thanks to Martin Luther King, there is no longer racism, and everyone lives together in happiness.
Boy, are those kids in for a surprise when they start reading the news.
Racism is not over. On the contrary, it is still a prominent part of our society, and over the past year, it played a crucial role in deciding who our next president will be. A man of white privilege who considers himself to be a "successful businessman" just led an election based on hatred and anger toward minority groups. He exploited the population's fear of Mexicans, Muslims, and immigrants in general; he has made extremely misogynistic comments toward women, and he even scared the African American population into not voting in this election. He even thanked the black community for not voting after he had already won the presidency. Even as a white, male citizen of the United States, I am very unhappy with the results of the election and the methods used to achieve those results.
But imagine if Martin Luther King were alive to see this.
Imagine if he had to witness the increased number of hate crimes against minorities. Imagine if he went around and saw the class differences between racial groups. Imagine if he had to hear all kinds of attacks on President Obama. And imagine if he had to watch all of his work to promote unity come apart at the hands of a person with no political experience who's running for president for the sole purpose of gaining attention. Because we now have a president-elect who said it was okay to hate minorities, we're now seeing increased racial tension throughout the country. The exact opposite of what Martin Luther King wanted.
And yet, at this time of the year, we tell children that he "solved racism." He did not solve racism. He was arrested multiple times simply for hanging out in a whites-only public space. He was assassinated because of racism. And as much as he helped African Americans to gain basic human rights in the letter of the law, there is still segregation in the spirit of the law. The police are targeting African Americans for things such as simply having a broken taillight, while white men are let off the hook for cases of sexual harassment. This is not what Martin Luther King wanted, and he would be pissed at what we're now going through as a nation. This is reverse progress. This is a backwards step for a nation which has thrived on racial and ethnic diversity.
We must stop telling children that Martin Luther King completely got rid of racism, because as we have seen from the past year, it exists prominently throughout our population. There's no reason for us to hide the truth from elementary school students. It doesn't benefit anyone to think that a certain conflict doesn't exist. By all means, we should let them know more and more about the reality of the situation. Because the sooner they learn it, the sooner they can take action and do something about it when the time comes.
