Following Martin Luther King Day, I take this time to reflect on how we as a society are deviating from Martin Luther King's famous dream he had. Everyone knows about Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech". He clearly states that no one should ever be discriminated due to the color of their skin, but instead by the way in which they act and the content of their individual character. This rang true in the 1960s and 70s when the civil rights movement took place in the United States following the harsh treatment of blacks in America. There were clear civil rights violations against blacks, and it was considered legal in many aspects then. Now, we live in a much different world, especially for those who were once discriminated against. We as a country have accomplished so much, and have progressed through tough societal issues. We have overcome many societal problems that many countries still deal with on a daily basis. Martin Luther King would be very proud of how far we have come.
Now that that is out of the way, it is time to address how those who were once helped by MLK are now taking his words out of context and pretty much heading backwards. We now have movements such as the Black Lives Matter Movement that parade around MLK as though he is the one who influences their reason for protesting, but looking at what they have done in the past and what they are advocating does not at all correlate with what Dr. King would have wanted. For example, the many hostile protests in Missouri, Chicago and Boston clearly show no sign of peaceful protests. The utter amount of destruction they caused nowhere near represents the aspirations of Dr. King. Many BLM activists have defended their actions, not denying they are violent, by saying the past 200 years of discrimination somehow warrants this behavior. This behavior is exactly what Dr. King died protesting against. His movement was a change in protesting civil rights. It was switched from attacking his oppressors to showing them how wrong they were, and it worked. Boycotts and marches were a big part of his movement. They showed how important it is to accept everyone into society, otherwise, nothing will every work. Another aspect of the BLM movement is how they preach for safe spaces and areas where they feel they cannot be verbally attacked. In essence, they are calling for "blacks only" areas, where white people cannot interact with them. This is the exact opposite of what Dr. King wanted. He wanted America to accept blacks into society and to allow them to assimilate into the culture, not separate them, which is what BLM wants. It seems that they are taking Dr. King's words out of context. He clearly states that no man should be discriminated against, and this is true in every sense of the phrase. The Black Lives Matter Movement is turning Dr. King's words against him. It is digressing back to what Dr. King originally intended to get rid of.
So as we as a country reflect every year on Dr. Martin Luther King's impact on racial discrimination, please understand that resorting back to how it was before his presence is not at all what Dr. King's dream was intended to be.
