Bringing out the “Ugly” truth

         Before this class, the Civil Rights Movement to me was a big question mark. All I knew was that it was a fight to get rid of the injustice that African Americans faced. I knew that Martin Luther King Jr. played a big part in it, but I also “knew” that he was the leader of the movement. I put that in quotes because that is one of the many details of the master narrative that I thought was the correct story. What many of do not know is the full story, the nitty gritty, the stuff we don’t want to have to confront.

         Honestly, I would love to blame the education system for not teaching me what really happened but there is no excuse in this day and age with the internet handy right and right at our fingertips. Anyway, one of the main things I did not know was how many other people were involved in the movemet. Looking back, it’s obvious that one person could not have that big of an influence so I’m not sure why I so easily believed in the whole “MLK is the leader of the movement” lie.

         Another thing that we do not often hear when we talk about the Civil Rights Movement is MLK having his weak moments. I’m not sure why this is because I think it would help everyone to know that he had his downfalls and that he was not perfect. Take his affairs for example. Knowing that MLK had affairs with other women puts him on a more level playing field with the “common” person. This also helps the “common” person (us) believe we can have an impact on things for the better just as MLK did. I say this because the work is not finished yet. There is still so much to be done. This is also something the master narrative has wrong. It makes us believe that there is nothing else to do and that all the problems were fixed.

         Another thing that is left out of the mast narrative is the effect and influence that women had on the movement. So many women were involved but living in a patriarchal society made it harder for them to be heard. Think of the impact they could have had if they were not held back. This is also relevant to today because women nowadays are still silenced and not offered the time of day to reach their full potential.

         I’m not sure what the exact solution to the specific problem of telling the true story really is, but we could start in our schools. Let’s start teaching America’s true history and not just the white version.