Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta in 1929. His family was not
poor; in fact, they lived in a good neighborhood, but they were black. King Jr.
became a minister of the local church like his father. He married Coretta
Scott, who stood by his side fighting for African Americans’ rights.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a name that I had heard before, but was
unfamiliar with. After reading, the McLean’s book I could become more familiar
with King’s personal life, family, and most importantly his strength to pursue
African Americans’ rights. I now acknowledge the great importance that his acts
made in history. His legacy, the “I have a dream” speech, made an impact on
many Americans; some supported it and some did not.
This book portrays a crucial part of the United States history and King
Jr.’s strive to end racial segregation, which was influenced by terrible
childhood experiences. For example, when he used to play with his neighbor, a
white kid, to whom he tried to find at the school he went to. He didn’t realize
they went to different schools due to their race. Then Martin gets home and
goes to his neighbor´s house. His neighbor’s mom tells him he can’t longer see
his friend because he is black. (McLean, 2001:6).
It was quite common to see schools for blacks or whites only. Black
people didn’t live in the same neighborhood as white people did, and the bus’s
seats were all reserved for whites, but Martin wanted to see black people and
white people live together in peace and enjoying the same rights. His
philosophy was to fight for this cause without violence, just love. Mohandas
Gandhi was a great model of this idea.
Although he had lots of supporters, there were people like Malcom X who
disapproved the idea of no violence and no guns usage. They thought that it was necessary to use
guns to fight for their rights.
King Jr.’s struggle against segregation was the reflection of what was
happening to American society during the years 1930 and 1940. This reminds me
of a particular case which has been on the news recently in our country, Chile.
There is, literally, a fence dividing two parts of a school in Talagante in the
Región Metropolitana. One is for outstanding students and the other one is for
regular ones. I can’t stand thinking that this kind of things still happen in
the 21st century, even after the presence of so many activists that
have contributed to the world through the years such as Gandhi, and King, among
others.
In addition, I think that there are exams like SIMCE which tests the
students’ learning processes and the results are presented in percentages
showing us which schools have achieved the best results, and which have not.
Though these measures are necessary, they usually tend to stigmatize the
schools and the students that attend to them. Segregation should not be present
in the world today; instead each country should be promoting equal rights and
opportunities to access to a good education. Countries should not keep promoting
sectarian education models that do not contribute to a better and equal world
with the same rights that Martin Luther King dreamed of once. Like him, I
stand, as future Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, saying that I do
have a dream.
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