Sunday, March 1, 2009

Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.


By Dalila

What would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. had never delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech? Did all the people actually agree with him? Was he crazy in believing that races should get along? Was he right in believing that violence was not the answer? These are the questions that continue years after his death. Martin Luther King Jr. worked very hard for people to change their mind. If it weren’t for his ideas, the ideas of Malcom X would have taken over and we would live in a very different America.

Martin Luther King Jr was a great leader because he motivated all the people of different skin colors to work together. On the other hand, Malcolm X wanted to separate all the different skin colors like Mexicans on the north side, white people will leave on the west side and the African-Americans in south side. Martin Luther King Jr is a guy that made many points in his speeches, where he caused some racist people not be racist. It’s hard to do all that. To prove that races can work together, from 1957 to 1968 he walked over six million miles, spoke his speeches over 250 times and while he was doing that, he wrote five books.

If he was alive still everything would be changed. There wouldn’t be many racist people and maybe Latinos would still be here in America and not in Mexico. Martin Luther King, when he gaved a speech, said,"if someone hits you don't hit back just walk away.” People’s concerns with this is that, if they kill you or something then there’s going to be problems. On the other hand, Malcom X wanted people to hit back so that they could defend themselves.

King achieved many things that made him a very good speaker, because it caused people to support non-violence. For example, Martin Luther King led a protest march in Memphis,Tennessee. It was about a strike of garbage workers of that city, because the African-American workers weren’t getting paid enough. In Washington D.C he did another march of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address of "I have a dream." He also got arrested twenty times for speaking out and got assaulted four times. On December 21, 1956, the Supreme Court crossed off the law of the black people going to the back of the bus and whites in front so it was no longer a law.

Though he was a Baptist minister, it doesn't matter if he was Jewish, Christian or catholic he made a big change that impressed people. He was a great leader that changed some racist people; which is hard for some people to do. If it wasn't for him we would all be dead or wouldn't have all those things we like.

Photo Credit
Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/jan03/kingjr.html

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