Why We Can't Wait

In previous class discussions we have talked about how not all African Americans participated in the Civil Rights Movement. In Why We Can’t Wait, by Martin Luther King Jr.,King shows this first hand. “Negros are human, they are not superhuman. Like all people, they have differing personalities, diverse financial interests and varied aspirations, There are Negroes who will never fight for freedom. There are Negroes who will seek profit for themselves alone from the struggle. There are even Negroes who will cooperate with their oppressors...No one can pretend that because a people may be oppressed, every individual member is righteous and worthy. The real issue is whether in the great mass the dominant characteristics are decency, honor, and courage. (31).” This quote is significant to me because I feel it describes the essence of the Civil Rights Movement. Not everyone participated, or even wanted change. But, King is enforcing the idea that African Americans are people who can make their own decisions. Because they can make their own decisions, they do not have to participate in the movement, because not everyone shares the same ideals and if they are bad it can bring the whole movement down. He isn’t claiming that all African Americans should join just because they are African American, which is a common misconception about the Civil Rights Movement. He cares about the real issues of the movements, and making it stay respectable. When talking about movements in America we tend to forget that there was not always support within the movement, and categorizing does not help push the movement forward.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freedom Riders 3/26

As I watched the “Freedom Riders” documentary, the more disgusted I become at that racial injustices in American history. At the beginning of the documentary, there is a small montage of bigots giving poor excuses as to why the South should remain segregated. However, there was one quote that stuck out that stated, “You can not change a way of life overnight. The more they try to force us into doing something, the worse the reaction is going to be.” Racism should not be a way of life anyone wants to live through or put onto someone else. The Freedom Riders and many nonviolent protesters weren’t physically imposing on others, so why was the reaction of segregationists to worsening as “they try to force” them into a realistic way of life? Watching the documentary and listening to how the Riders were willing to be martyrs for the Movement as they were physically attacked, their property was destroyed via molotov and mentally drained daily makes me appreciate activism a great deal more, ...
Read more
After reading the rest of Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton's Black Power and then reflecting about what we talked about in class on Tuesday, I still cannot put my finger on an exact definition of "black power." I do believe, though, that "black power" cannot be achieved without a change in the political structure of America. When reading the fourth chapter of this book, the idea that people in power control the law is brought up. I, almost, one hundred percent agree with this. The quote from the book that stood out to me was "Law is the agent of those in political power; it is the product of those powerful enough to define right and wrong and to have that definition legitimized by "law." This is not to say that "might makes right," but it is to say that Might makes Law." This quote shows how political leaders shape the law. Those in power get to make the laws, whether they are just or not. I still believe this today. I believe...
Read more

What It's Like to Be Black on Campus Now

In Melissa Harris-Perry’s article, “What It’s Like to Be Black on Campus Now”, she discusses the issues behind race in education and institutions through ten black student journalists who tell their personal experiences. She gives an example from the University of Missouri, explaining how one student decided to stop eating in protest of inaction and ineffective administrative responses to racial incidents on campus. 30 Missouri football players joined this one student in protest and University of Missouri’s president resigned soon after. This example is powerful because it shows other institutions that when you unite together, change can come. Harris- Perry continues to talk about how important education is to black families and how hard it is to send their children to a place that can be so full of hatred towards their race. She wrote, “Viewing higher education as a pathway to equity, African American families and communities have made enormous sacrifices to send black kids to college...
Read more