Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This quote truly means a lot to me and at times I almost start to cry. In his speech, he addresses the extreme need for racial equality in our county. Fast forwarding to the year 2022, this world has improved since 1963. However, there are still so many injustices of black people in our country.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1929. When he was six years old, a friend of his, who was white, said they could no longer play together because of his color. At the age of 15, King attended Morehouse College. From there, his path toward success started. Later, he went to Boston University and studied religion, continuing on to get a master's and a doctorate. When Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955, townspeople selected King as the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association. In 1960, his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where Dr. King was later convicted of a crime just because of a lunch table boycott.
As time went by, King constantly stood up for what he believed in. He never stopped following his heart, and that resulted in him getting arrested many times. On August 28, 1963, King stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial to 200,000 people, of mixed races, and delivered his famous speech, “I have a dream”. The civil rights act was passed in 1964, enforcing desegregation in the whole country. Unfortunately, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered outside of a motel in 1968 and his legacy lives on.
Even though the civil right act was passed in 1964, some may wonder how a man like George Floyd died in May 2020? He did something that in the public eye seemed like minimal crime. Through a trial with the accused police officer, a little bit of justice was served when he got sent to jail. One might infer, that if this had happened before the civil rights act was passed, it would have been faced in a different way. Some may agree, the Black Lives Matter movement is similar to the civil rights movement. After 68 years, it seems that more black people are being targeted, which has become unsettling to the public eye. I hope that readers begin to understand Dr. Kings’ story and the hardships of life back then. I hope we can support each other no matter the color of our skin. Everyone deserves a fair and equal chance.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy also reminded people to treat everyone equally. It doesn’t matter how tall or wide, gender, sexual orientation, language, or race. Everyone is beautiful in their own ways. Some may live by this motto: “Treat people the way you want to be treated”. How would you feel if you are being treated that way, or maybe have faced unfair judgment in the past? With the world's help, or even our schools' support, the world will slowly and efficiently become a better place.