How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Future

Throughout history, the past will always influence the future. Because of wars, reforms and movements, the future always reflect history. Martin Luther King. Jr, a famous historic leader in the Civil Right Movement, greatly changed the present through his actions and, even now years after his death, still influence the present and future of the world. Shown by the new memorial in Washington D.C., King proves that his legacy will last forever as his dream touched many lives. While he is physically not here today, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial itself depicts an element from the King life that still affect today’s world: incompleteness. Unlike all the statues around, memorial is not fully carved out from the stone, appearing half completed, representing an important element: injustice in the past and present; while providing a rallying force.

The memorial statue is an oddly carved 30 feet tall granite block that stands tall between the Lincoln Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

The statue's composition is of granite blocks from China that Lei Yixin carved (Margolin 405). The quality of the carving is astounding, however, the carving was never finished or rather King never emerges fully out of the stone; to the contrary, the others statues are American made and fully carved. King’s back is still attached to the stone and his feet are not even visible. From King's knee down, everything is engulfed in granite. King's body is more than 75 percent completed with only the bottom remaining incomplete. However, the Martin Luther King Foundation recorded the state of the statue as completed as they deemed Yixin able-bodied to "complete such monumental work" (Bruyneel 85). The incompleteness of memorial is part of the finale. It is unknown why memorial remains incomplete and whether it will ever be fully carved. However, this aspect of incompleteness is brings up a question of whether this is hinting about the present in correlation to the

past.
In the past, there were obvious signs of segregation that impacted social interaction amongst races. Jim Crows Laws attacked every Blacks in the South. Children and adults were affected by the discriminating hatred from the Southern Whites. Workplaces' wages discriminate based on race: Whites received higher pay than Blacks. Schools were even worst; local and state government attempted to integrate blacks and whites, but retaliation under the bases of education and safely quickly followed ("The Problem We All Live With"). With the arrival of King, the Civil Right Movement began to negotiate and unite together without discrimination. However, the unification was never completed; James Earl Ray assassinated King on April 4, 1968, ultimately ending the period of peace ("Report of the Selected Committee"). King's death left his mission incomplete and while Blacks and White over the years attempt to finish King's mission, today's world remain largely segregated.
While it is not as bluntly obvious as in the twentieth century, the twenty-first century is still segregated and unjust as the past. It is not as strongly heated as the past, but society still remains unjust in communicating with different race. The transition is incomplete. Some school sets classes difficulties differently based on the population of certain races ("The Problem We all Lived With"). King's dream of equality never arrived, society never fully embraced it. Behind the scene, it was always incomplete. Civil Right groups still actively fight for Blacks' rights and every day. King's reality never completed its transition. Likewise, memorial is incomplete, to represent the incomplete equality in today society. Memorial may be a symbol of the present danger in society that people neglect to see. King mention in his letter from Birmingham Jail that "for years... [people] have heard the word wait'" (2) from society. Like the people before, people today waits for rights; they wait for the equality that King fought for; the equality that is incomplete. The wait is incomplete, the end have not come; justice is incomplete, it does not include everyone; the fight is incomplete, the war still rages. The incomplete statue of King is a representation for something bigger; a symbol to remind people to remember that day: the "day this nation will rise up" (Martin Luther King Jr.) and unite.
The Martin Luther King Jr. monument reflect on a bigger picture in today's world and stand uniting people together. The 30 feet granite statue stands tall in Washington D.C. where everyone can publicly view and absorb the powerful representation of freedom. The creation of the statue stands to pull people of all races together and remind them of the past, the time where people have to act differently because of skin color. Blacks, Whites, Asian, European and people of other ethnicity came and obverse memorial; the incomplete King once again brings people together and reminds them of the current state of equality in the world. Like the past, King pull Blacks and White together to illustrate that together, progress will be made. The statue acts as a motivational force that encourages people to act toward injustice, to act for justice. While the physical being is absent, the memorial becomes a rallying point for people to unite and become the reality that King desired. The 75% completed statue depictes that equality is close, major progress has been made, society is more accepting, but inequality still tint the world in darkness. The legs themselves symbolizes the inability for equality to move farther without the required support and contribution from the people gathered. Even though the main focus is on the statue itself, the bigger picture must be taken in account for, the walls of quotes. During King’s lifetime, he himself could never accomplishes equality but only with others’ help did he manage to bring, to an extent, justice. To intertwine people together for a cause, King crafted multiple inspirational speeches, which the wall now, have minor excerpts inscribed. With this taken into account, the solidified legs also means to represent King as a figure head, one that brings people via words and speeches. The incompleteness of the statue only serves to accurately depict King’s character and dream through its physical appearances and symbolic incompleteness.
The mysterious aspect of incompleteness of the statue brings to light the hidden problems from today’s world: inequality. Civil right groups made major progress in bringing equality, but the statue, the reality of King’s dream, is incomplete. The obvious is shroud by the progress and thus it takes a unique representation of a figurehead to uncover the layer of darkness upon the injustice. While it is difficult for unjust society to disappear, regulation can help bring justice to an extent. Maybe the message is not that King’s dream is incomplete but rather it will always be incomplete as he is set in stone and thus his dream. However, stone can still be weathered down by nature and thus injustice can be weathered by social unity from everyone. Regardless of the message within, the statue’s incompleteness represents a unique aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy and forever will remain part of the historical making for civil equality.