Human Rights

Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King was raised in Georgia and graduated high school at the age of 15. He then attended Morehouse College; a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. From 1957 to 1968 King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream" he was awarded five honorary degrees and was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

I chose Martin Luther King Jr for this blog post because even though on paper he seemed to have had it better than the average black man at the time he till fought injustice. Many people don’t realize that injustice against one black person is an injustice against us all. Martin Luther King Jr believed that every American no matter their race deserved the same opportunities and if they should fail it should be by their own hand and not someone’s intolerance or ignorance. This has inspired me to take action as a Canadian against ignorance. Not just in race or religion but in any time a person makes a snap judgement or bullies because they are not well educated on the matter. In this anti-bullying and information age, not being knowledgeable of a subject is no excuse to be offensive. My strategy is to simply listen more carefully when my colleges speak and if necessary inform them on topics they don’t fully comprehend. I hope others will follow my example.