During this third week of January 2009, we both celebrate history and witness history in the making. On Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – remembering the contributions of the civil rights leader. In his most famous speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., King spoke of his dream – a dream of racial equality. He spoke at a time when African Americans suffered indignities such as being refused service in restaurants, being forced to ride in the back of public buses, to drink from black only water fountains, and much more. While our country has made great strides in the areas of race relations and racial equality, few can deny that racism still exist – in some areas of the country more than others.
It’s fitting around this time of year to reflect on MLK’s life and work. One question that we often ask is whether or not his dream has been realized. Have we come far enough? Have the barriers to racial equality been torn down sufficiently enough? If King was alive today (he would be 81-years-old this year), would he be satisfied with the progress that has been made? Has King’s dream been realized?
Is it important that we set aside a day to remember the work of Dr. King? What is the best way to commemorate his life? As students, as a school, should we be doing something to remember King and educate the youth of today about his impact on our nation's history?
What do you think? Avoid simple answers. Give me real thought. Read the comments of those posting before you. Come back after you post, and continue to keep up with additional posts until the deadline. I want a real conversation. Invite your parents to read the blog, and they can even comment. Enjoy!
Note: I'm including King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
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30 comments:
I think that America has come a very far way with the racism topic. We have taken down the barriers around jobs, but individuals still are racist to Africans, but not to the extent as a while back. I think Martian Luther King Jr. would be proud of what he has done, but wish there was less personal racism.
I think that America has done a lot of work to get rid of racism and I don't think there are many racists. If M. L. K. Jr was still alive he would be so proud.
Chase Y says: I think that America has came along way by getting rid of most racism. We still haven't completely cut racism out but for the most part we've came a long way, which is why I think that if Martin Luther King JR. were here today he would be very proud of how his country has brought his dream into action.
I think that if Martin Luther King Jr. was here today then he would agree with me that his dream has come true. Most of the racism has gone away from this world there still is personal racism like Austin and Luke said.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s work has definitely impacted our society, and I do think he would be proud of his work. We've come a long way in the racial respect area, and I think it's a day worth honoring.
How can we attibute this movement to one man, how, only communities can eliminate cheesburgers and racism, there is alot of racism still around, not in public eyes but we have not done much about it,
give a tink
I think that this is a very important topic to some people! I think if M.L.K JR was alive today he would be very proud of how far America has come today with racism! I think that most racism has been eliminated, but some of it still stalks us!
Ana S. -- I think that America has tried hard to get rid of racism(like Luke said) and the person that tried to stop the discrimination of blacks was Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of te key leaders of the civil rights movement. He did everything in his power to stop this. Some parts of racism are still alive in the united states though. After the assasination... People really didn't exactly recongnize what his importance was, however in the late 80's the holiday came alive. We celebrate this everyyear to remember how important he was..."I have a dream" -MLK day let's remember.
I think that if M.L.K. were alive today he would be happy at how far America has come as far as everyone being able to go to the same reaturaunts and things along those lines but I don't think that he would be copletely happy because there is still racism and some people don't consider others to be equal to them.
I also think that there should be something done to help us remeber King and the impact he had on our nation's history because we only have a day off and most kids probebly don't think about why we have a day off they only think of M.L.K. day as a long weekend or a break from school. We don't think about why we are out of school and the events that have happened in history for us to have a day off.
I agree with Austin when he mentioned how far we have come from being segregated. I am proud to call this my country, where people like Martin Luther King, Junior come from the background and become known and stand up for what they believe in. Men like him who show people what is right. We should acknowledge what this great man did for us by thinking of what he truly did for us. For what he did for all blacks, indians, chinese, people of all races. We can listen to his speeches, imagine the strength he felt looked at the men and women who listened to what he had to say. Imagine what he felt growing up with the feeling of inferioroity. We need not feel comepletley bad for what was in the past but we can think of what it truly meant for blacks. Robert shut up.
America and other countries have definitely improved a lot since then, and I think Martin Luther King Jr. would be very proud. Even though racism still exists it is nowhere near how bad it used to be. I believe we should all celebrate this day in honor of a very special person, (Martin Luther King Jr.) Without him whites and blacks still might not be able to go to the same school.
That was Rodriguez
I believe that America has come very far, but not far enough. We still have racism in America not only with blacks but with hispanics. But I do believe that Dr. Kings dreams have been reached. Even though we havent come far as we should be, we have come so much farer than dr. Kings time. We still have racism, but when it come to the community we act as a whole, not two or three sperate groups. I also do think that we do need a day to set aside to celebrate the life and dreams of Dr. King because obviiously has dreams were reached after he died, but the fact still remains that he has helped form America's view on racism and color.
~Abby(:
Csn only whites be racist?
give it a tink
Remembering MLk Jr. in that day is very important because he tried his best to stop racism and tried to make this world a better place. Though we need to do something about personal racism.
Can
I agree with everyone who says that MLK Junior would be proud of us because of how far we have come from slavery. We should be proud of how far we have come because he would be proud. Proud of how hard we try to keep away segregation, discrimination, etc.
I believe that Martin Luther King Junior's dream has been recognized, and that he would be proud of the evolution of the struggle against racism. Though, like most others have already mentioned, I do not think that he would be satisfied, because of the many other racial injustices and personal conflicts some that are still present.
Yeah I think that racism had come a long journey but sometimes I still see it today. But before the MLK long weekend I was talking at my church and found out that some of my korean friends did not really understand what kind of person Martin Luther King is to America. I understand that some people may not know about him but it seemed so strange to me for I have been so stressed on how MLK changed our lives. I think that MLK would be really proud of the changes that have occurred after his speech and doings. Since I am Korean and there is only 2 of us which is maggie and me, I don't know about Maggie but being judged on race was something that happened quite often for me but without MLK it would have been worse than I could imagine.
to anyone who says white southers were bad to slaves.
John Brown was a white guy. He was an abolutionist, and he was such an abolutuionist that he invaded a Federal Armory to arm his rebellion to free blacks, and this was before the civil war, but General Lee was sent with Marines(oorah!) to mop em' up. So why dont we have a holiday for him eh?
all white southerners
Whites aren't the only ones who are racist. (I also think that Robert needs to write longer and more relative posts, even though they are interesting to read.)Many people are racist to asians, whites, indians etc. not just blacks but my mother and father say it is less now than it was then.
Thank you breane i will concider your suggestion
I think that Grace has a good point. It would be much harder for many people of different races without MLK(J). I also agree with Breanne, that its not only white people who can be racist, anyone can be. Also, hypocritically and ironically, isn't that racist to think only white people can be racist?
When Rob asked "can only whites be racist?" Well realy no. Anyone could be racist. Also If M.L.K.jr wasn't born think about how we would be. It would probibly be the same as M.L.K.jr's childhood. I'm not saying that someone else could be like M.L.K.jr, but think about our lives if there was no M.L.K.jr.
I forgot to add this but once that happened some also have slowly got worse. Who watches american idol. The general was talking how some discraced M.L.K.jr. If you watch american idol then you should know this song, Pants on the Ground. If you don't watch it then look it up on youtube. You probibly never think about it.
I agree with Grace. We basically have the same thought on this topic. I also think that we agree on the fact that we have come a long way, but also it hasnt come far enough.
~abby(:
I think that America has come a very long way since MLK helped bring us together. I am happy that we are together and not having seperate places for different races and always being segregated. On MLK Day I don't think about why we are out of school. I think that people should think more about that day and honor it because it is definitly a day worth honoring.
David Yu- I think MLK would be proud today. Our nation got out of segragation and now we can all go to the same schools. Nowdays, we can do so many things that we couldn't do back then.
I think dr. Luther king has showed us that we all are equal in gods eyes and their will never be a day where whites should be better than blacks. We should all try to get along regarding are race. just because we are white we should not look down upon the blacks we should look at them like we are equal to them.
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