Looking at various news articles that talk about
MLK and the many celebrations throughout the nation that celebrate and remember
him in the 50th anniversary of his assassination, most talk about
the progress and success of the country “after” the civil rights movement. Articles
stamp him into a specific time period where he battled and won the legal battle
of segregation and integration. We see him following the classic narrative, as
a man that fought nonviolently for equality in the South. The flaw here is that
most of media fails to describe his battle towards the end of his life, which
had moved up North and dealt with income equality, housing segregation,
poverty, and many other contemporary issues that hit close to home 50 years
later. By remembering him as only his earlier accomplishments, we then obscure
all of the issues of racism, gender equality, poverty, etc that still go on
today, and see the nation as only one of great progress which is just simply
wrong. A TIME article posted the day
after the 50th anniversary of his assassination finally opened eyes
to the issues still present, even at the exact time that Memphis was
celebrating the iconic King figure1. The article criticized and
critiqued the speakers of the commemoration events in Memphis, very few of
which actually spoke the words, “Black Lives Matter,” or talked about the struggles
faced surrounding that. All of the speakers, as the article says, “were men,
and they were remarkable vague, bordering on silent, about women’s and LGBTQ
rights.” Instead, well-known activists, including Keedran Franklin of Black
Lives Matter, were arrested in Memphis on April 3rd after protesting
outside of an immigrant detention facility. And let’s not forget the Memphis
death of a 17 year old boy, who was shot and killed (and left for 2 days) by a
store clerk after apparently stealing a beer from a convenience store. Remember
him? Oh wait, probably not. His death was brushed over by the ceremonies to
remember all of the great progress made by MLK and those that followed him. The
article urges for Americans and Memphians to continue to fight each of the
battle King represented. “In order to truly represent his legacy, and move us
forward, they must continue to appreciate the interconnected nature of these
struggles.”2 As students and members of society, this idea of
recognizing and working towards progress as a whole while recognizing and
valuing each piece that goes into that, is incredibly important. I always
struggle with which aspect of inequality to focus on, as I am working to
imagine a career in the nonprofit sector. Which struggle to I give my life and
my career to, and how am I supposed to choose that? As much as I would love to
support and work for all of the issues I believe in, there is just not enough
time. As I question the PeaceCorps, I always get the consistent counterargument
as to why I would want to help people and children abroad, when there are so
many issues that need addressing in my own neighborhood and throughout the city
of Memphis. While King acknowledges the many issues, and we as citizens must
work to acknowledge all of these, how does one divide their time evenly? Or is
it an individual’s duty to really dive into one?
1. Balto, Simon. "What was missing from Memphis on the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassination." Time. April 5, 2018.
2. Ibid.
MLK in context - an exploration of King's life and work from an historical perspective
I totally relate to the internal struggle you are facing. I would want to go into education, but the US education system is so corrupt that I want to go into international education and people always ask why do I not want to solve the problems here. I think it would take more than one person to truly fix any of the big problems that our country is facing, which is why I think groups like "Black Lives Matter" is such a great organization. It is bringing people together to avocate for a common cause. I think it is a matter of gaining a big group of people for a large goal and once that is achieved breaking off into more specialized areas to dive into specific problems. It seems to us that live in America that problems we have are impossible to fix. Although, I do not think problems abraod are easier to fix. I think there needs to be more orgization like the PeaceCorps that is solely focused on problems that are facing the United States.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this post. I think that right now there are so many movements and so many social issues that people are drawing attention to that it can be overwhelming at times. I think that we all can be guilty at times of ignoring current realities and placing the Civil Rights Movement and the issues that it stood for in the past, despite their ringing truths today. Ultimately I think that diving completely into one topic or social issue in any facet of a person’s life can be detrimental, because it makes it easier to ignore or miss the various events and tragedies in other sectors of the world. However, I think that all of the social problems that people face today are too big if you try and tackle them all at once. Therefore while I don’t think it is healthy to completely involve oneself in one topic, I think that an individual can be much more successful should they.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how King is used and portrayed in today's society. Almost everyone remembers him for his "I have a Dream Speech", the legal battles he helped win, and as a man who used nonviolent tactics to win "equality" for African Americans. They very rarely mention his fight against the poverty that had plagued African Americans for centuries, his disagreement with the Vietnam War, or his international relations. It's much easier to ignore the truth that poverty is still a huge issue in America. I do believe that if you want to fix something (like poverty in the U.S. or abroad), you must dedicate yourself entirely to it; if you divide your efforts abroad and in the U.S., you will accomplish much less.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyones comments. There are so many activist groups that is best to focus one at a time. Albany, GA is a good example of this. There were too many groups that had a similar goal but they all had different ways of tackling the issue. The result of this was that they did not gain anymore independence than what they had before. MLK made sure that he and the SCLC were working on their own from that point forward. This same tactic of focusing on one organization or issue at a time can be used on an individual level. I think it is better to put all your efforts into one organization at a time rather than spreading out your efforts between many.
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