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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24 comments:
Mmm, I'm first(:
Well, I don't really know if Martin Luther King deserves a day to himself. I mean I know he was a great leader, because he knew and showed that racism is wrong, but to have a whole day to himself? How come other people don't have days to themselves? There are lots of other people in the world that did so much. Like I think his name is Mandala...well that guy in Africa that is like the president I think...well I know that this guy also went to jail numerous times like Martin Luther King did because of his beliefs.
So why not a Mandala day? But then again, maybe if we put in too many days dedicated to people, it'll be crazy. I'm just saying why does he have a whole day to himself? Why can't we have a nice museum for him? Or maybe we can have a Martin Luther King fair. You've seen those commercials for the gun and knife show at the North Florida Fairgrounds, right? Let's make it a Martin Luther King fair. Guns and knives are a stupid thing to have a whole event about. Just go to a gun store for that. Or somewhere in the mall with lots of kitchen knives. Like Macys.
If we ever put in another holiday dedicated to something though...I'd really like a taco day. (just my opinion) Tacos are very important! It's a daily type of food, and it's healthy too! (that's what Taco Bell's commercials say)
But anyways, I think Martin Luther King Jr. DID do a lot for us. And I'll finish this paragraph later because I have to go eat dinner.
I agree with Maggie, I think Martin Luther King does not need a holiday to himself because there are other people who have done good in the world and yet he is the only one who gets a holiday in name of him.
Their has been big improvement on racism but it still lies everywhere around the world. Martin Luther King Junior probally made the biggest impression on racism although there are many other people and that day he gave his speech was a huge historical event and making it a holiday is also making it remembered throughout time. So by saying this i disagree with maggie and deanna.
I disagree with what Deanna said in that this statement is not true: "there are other people who have done good in the world and yet he [Martin Luther] is the only one who gets a holiday in name of him.
There are many other holidays that commemorate people like presidents day. Before Presidents day, everytime a President died he would have a day named after him but they just lumped them together into President's Day.
Veterans that come back from war also have a holiday for themselves and even the average hard working citizen has a day named after themself...labor day. A day off for making our economy strong.
I personally think that Martin Luther King does deserve a full day to himself, even though Maggie doesn’t, because he did many great things and was bold and if it wasn't for him blacks would probably still be segregated. Even though he didn't make the final decision he helped support it a lot and even risked his life and went to jail for it. I think that by now his dream is realized all over the U.S. since he made a big impact on our economy and helped all blacks get equal treatment to whites. What I think schools should do on Martin Luther King Day is do several activities that are related to him or activities about the blacks being segregated from whites. If Dr. King was still alive today he would be very happy with all that has changed in the past few years because this is exactly how he say blacks and whites living together in his dream.
Well Brendan!
Maybe we should make a day called People Who Helped Rid America Of Racism day then! Like President's day, and clump Martin Luther King into it. And while we're at it, let's add Rosa Parks and Malcolm X too!
Humph
Wow Maggie...you sound...what's the word...angry? Well Maybe we should do that. I also had a question for Amanda. In her previous statement she said that:"I think that by now his dream is realized all over the U.S. since he made a big impact on our economy and helped all blacks get equal treatment to whites."
How did he improve our economy? I also think that we should get a day off in his stead because Martin Luther day stands for all the civil rights movements in America up to this day..it's just no one really labels it that.
Do you know MLK cheated and beat his wife, hmm, Malcom X was a hardcore hater to, but why doesnt rosa parks get a day,hmmm, ehhh?
why doesnt the population of this great nation taught more than just from a biased. read through with a neutral veiw and you will notice it,
hhhmmmm, ehhh
give it a tink
And yess MLK was a good man but why dont we just give the whole racism thing a break, the freeing of blackj americans cannot be attrrubiteted to one man, it took communitys, he just gave it a start.
give it a tink
In my opinion, we have come a long way since Dr. King led his campaign but we still have a little ways to go. Just look – most white people have black friends, and most black people have white friends. Everyone drinks from the same water fountain. We use the same bathrooms. We can all eat in the same restaurant. But the thing is, we can do better. There are still racists out there. The “N” word is still in use and it can be a very strong and offensive word. There’s improvement needed, but not as much as 50 years ago.
I think Martin Luther King would be very happy today. Blacks have all the same freedom as whites, just as I was saying earlier, there still just a little racism.
As for an MLK Day, I think it is a good idea. There were many great and influential people. The thing is, most of them are presidents, and as Brendan was saying, there’s already a President’s Day. Think about it: Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy; all of them are presidents.
Now to Rob: Remember, Dr. King was a good person, not a saint. He may have cheated on his wife and beat her up, but you saw the videos in Mr. Veliz’s class – Coretta Scott King still loved him! Give it a tink.
There is a lot of racism, you can denie it but you know its true. once instilled upon a man it is hard to eliminate. We cannot attribe this to Mr.King himself it took communities to eliminate racism and stuff,
only you can prevent the spread of racism
hmm
I agree with Nathan, although we have come a long way from when Martin was trying to eliminate racism we still have it all around us today in employment, jokes, and the like.
I was googling racism and I happened to chance upon Neo-Nazis. The term neo-Nazism refers to any post-World War II social or political movement seeking to revive Nazism, or some variant that echoes core aspects of Nazism. The term can also refer to the ideology of those movements. And as we all know Nazism = Racism.
These groups join in meetings and in demonstrations to discriminate against any ethnic group they don't particularly like. Sometimes they march right in front of the White House!
If we could wipe the ideas these groups feel so strongly about off the face of the earth, we could stop racism in its tracks.
Give it a "tink" Robby boy.
So your saying if your a racist than your a Nazi, hmm thats sounds odd, most of the U.S.A is Nazi then, Nazis were hardcore haters, but you should refer to more than one source. if racism was Nazism, than many good men would have been Nazis,
you need to know more about the term nazi before you bring it up
Well Brendan, all blacks are now a part of our society and economy now, in addition to that Obama, a black, is now our president now and if it wasn't for MLK then he would not have been our president today so we might have had a bit of a worse economy now. There are also many blacks that are part of our government that help our economy a lot today, but without MLK's strong arguments about blacks and whites being treated equal, we would not have them to help our government to become a lot stronger.
I also think that what Nathan said was right because I know a lot of blacks and whites that are really good friends and MLK helped them be together without getting in trouble for that.
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
I think that Martin Luther King deserves a day to himself because he was very active in the civil rights movement and he was a very couragous man. He risked his life numerous times for the rights of African Americans.
I think that if Martin Luther King was a live he would be very proud of the way the world has united togehter as one and has made efforts to eliminate racism. I still think that racism exists in some places but, I think it has definitely improved from 50 years ago.
Hey this is Luke from D-Period. After Matain Luther King Jr. died some people have slowly got worse. Who watches american idol, the general was talking how some people 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.
Dr. King played a very important role throughout our history, he moved many people towards his cause of black's equalization with whites. I do believe he deserves a holiday because without him we would probably still wouldn't have multi colored school and whites wouldn't be able to be friends with colored people.
WOW ROBBY! I with that I knew all of those weird (but totally cool, don't get me wrong)tidbits of information that you knew...
LIKE MAGGIE SAID, I don't think that he deserves a day to himself, either, although I sure do like the day off... And I'm glad that he made us less separated from colored people. Of course though, things weren't exactly right with everyone RIGHT when they were running through the streets. It took little time. Whatever. What I was trying to say was that instead of a day for him, we should have like a parade. We should have like the picket signs and we should all march, NOT just the colored people, of course.
AS BRENDAN was saying, though, Nazi's WERE Racist, but only really against Jewish people, which is a religion. But religion isn't race...so are people who are racist?!?! Whatever.
ANYWAY, and I hope that Luke didn't say this, but I was watching the news or something the other day, and they said that General Larry Platt was actually in the civil rights marches and that he like saw Martin Luther King Jr. and that he sang that song on American Idol because he is sad and angry at the boys that let their pants "hit the ground" nowadays when he fought for their equality in society today.
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE Martin Luther King day? Because he was a courageous man that "Had a dream" and he wanted everyone to know that, which he succeeded at.
ROBBY, I complinent you for knowing it, but HOW DID YOU FIND IT OUT?!?!
If the heading at the top means that you(Mr.Veliz) want to know how I celebrate Martin Luther King day, I celebrate it by vegging out on the couch and eating junk; which is WAY wrong, I should be outside enjoying the day and the bright sunshine (hopefully)but the days haven't really turned out like that in the 13 that I have had :Z That seems like a great note to end this on...
Carol Teffy
By "it" Robby, I meant that he hurt his wife...
Carol Teffy
I would have to say that I agree with Kierra since today there are still a few people who still are not very fond of blacks but things are a lot better than they were a couple of decades ago. I also thought that how MLK was so thoughtful and caring for others than himself was strong, courageous, and dangerous but he still went through with it and ended up with a pretty good victory. He should be an example to others to show how just one person can help to change the world, and all you have to do is put your mind into it.
I agree with Maggie. Martin Luther King Jr was a great man and leader, but I don't think he deserves a day to himself..
THIS POST IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED!!!
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