Today is MLK day. Martin Luther King Jr. was an incredibly brave man. I think we all know that, but I don't think we all appreciate it. I, being a white teenage girl in urban Iowa may not appreciate his movement as much as a seventy year old living in South Carolina, but I do know the significance.
When most people think of Martin Luther King Jr. they think of "I have a dream.." or of magnificent marches across cities to fight the injustice that many African Americans were enduring. MLK began his civil rights activism with a city-wide bus boycott initiated by Rosa Parks.
King was arrested 29 times for misdemeanor offenses related to his civil rights protested, often having to pay a fine. King was a religious man and would do anything to get rid of the "separate yet equal" laws that occupied the nation.
What causes me to admire King was his perseverance. He had so many times that he could've given up and resorted to violence as an act of protest, but he knew that would only set the civil rights and equality movement back.
I don't think MLK day is appreciated like it should be. I think for some high school students it's just another day off of school, which truly is unfortunate because our schools and our education would be completely different if Martin Luther King Jr. had never advocated for the rights of African Americans.
However, this afternoon I saw a tweet from a high school student that particularly bothered me. An African American teenage boy posted, "MLK would be proud of all the booty I get." This is insensitive and disrespectful to all of the work that MLK organized and completed. All of the protests he marched through and posters he held. All of the times he was arrested and thrown in jail. And his assassination. It's heartbreaking to think that people still don't realize how important MLK truly was and still is to this day.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -Martin Luther King Jr.
stay peaceful (and grateful)!!
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