Martin Luther King Speech On Social Injustice

Social injustice has long been an issue in the United States. It is something that cannot be avoided and has yet to have any type of real solution to handle it. There have been many people that have spoken up about the justice system, each in their own different way. Musicians such as; J. Cole, Tupac and Michael Jackson to name a few, have all spread their own message about injustice through the lyrics in their music. Activists, such as Malcolm X, may have spread their messages through protests or in their writing, but they all made sure that their message reached out to the people. There have been many people who have raised their voice about injustice, but very few have come close to what Martin Luther King has done.

Martin Luther King was one of the biggest activists during the civil rights movements during the mid-50s. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929. He grew up in a time period where segregation was still an issue, because of this; he had attended segregated public schools. Kings father, Martin Luther King Sr.

was heavily involved in church and had fought against racial prejudice because he believed racism and segregation was against gods will. He didn’t believe in class superiority either, which had left a lasting impression on King Jr. Martin Jr. wasn’t as involved with church as his father was, this was due to the fact that he questioned religion at his young age. A few years later, he had taken a bible class and changed his mind and began to see himself in the ministry.
Martin Luther King didn’t become one of the biggest voices of his time overnight, it was a long process that actually saw him get appointed in a spokesman role. Since the time period King was around was highly racist and segregated, African Americans always had the worse end of the stick when it came to anything. The schools were segregated, bathrooms, water fountains, diners, etc. Public transportation wasn’t exactly segregated, but the black people were required to stay in the back of the bus while the white people had the front of the bus. At one point of time, another social injustice activist, named Rosa Parks, would refuse to give up her seat to a white man which ultimately led to her being arrested. This would lead to a boycott which would become known as the Montgomery bus boycott, in which King was placed as the leader and spokesman. All of the activists came to the decision to not ride any public transportation until things were changed, this would go on for 381 days. King was heavily influenced by Gandhi and his views of a better future would lead him on the path of being one of the biggest voices in the nation.
King would go on and use his national fame to start a group known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); their goal was to achieve full equality for African Americans through non-violent means. They would go about doing this by making protests or having Martin Luther King go out and do speeches. A couple of the protests that King had be involved with were the bloody Sunday march of 1965, and the Birmingham campaign of 1963. The bloody Sunday march was organized in hopes of getting voting rights to all people; it unfortunately led to a serious of police brutality acts against the protestors. When footage of the police brutality was broadcasted, it helped boost support of the civil rights movement since the protestors didn’t initiate the violence or retaliate to it. King was not present at this march due to church reasons, but he when news of what had happened reached him, he had this to say, “If I had any idea that the state troopers would use the kind of brutality they did, I would have felt compelled to give up my church duties altogether to lead the line” (King). The Birmingham campaign was formed in order to put an end to discrimination, mainly segregation. Many public places or businesses were segregated and some businesses would only hire white people. When the businesses refused to change their ways, it led to the protestors holding sit-ins and marches. A sit-in is when the black protestors would sit on the white side of businesses and just like the marches; the goal was to be arrested. King had influenced this method so that the city jails would overflow. The polices violent methods of using high pressure water hoses and dogs in order to control the protestors would end up being seen by the public and the civil rights movement would profit more from it as well. As a result of this campaign, many of the segregation signs in Birmingham were taken down and more public places started to become less segregated. King’s tactics may have been questionable considering the risk the protestors were taking, but he had this to say about what he was doing, “The purpose of … direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation” (King). The marches that the protesters would participate in started many controversial issues, but they would all play a role in negotiations being made. Another protest that played a big role was the march on Washington for jobs and freedom in 1963. This was perhaps the most famous one of all the protests that happened due to the fact that this is when the famous “I Have a Dream” speech was given. This rally drew in between 200,000 and 300,000 participants. The speech was directed towards racial equality and economic rights for African Americans.
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is known as one of the most influential speeches in history.

This speech had a big effect on African Americans getting treated equal to white people. Freedom had been given to African Americans over 100 years ago, yet they still were not entirely free. They were still being treated as less than white people and still being held back because of their skin color. King had addressed this in his speech when he said “one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (King). African Americans were no longer slaves, but they still weren’t entirely accepted into American society. King had mentioned the Declaration of Independence in his speech as well, since the declaration is meant to secure rights to all people and not just some. King had this to say about how the people weren’t living up to the

declaration:
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." (King)
A promise of “unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is what was guaranteed to the people, but only the white men benefitted from it. The most well-known quote from his speech is when he said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (King). This was very significant because back then people were always judged by their skin color; no matter what they did it always came back to what color their skin was. Character counts and it should be used to measure a person and not their race. This speech was the beginning of things changing for the better for African Americans, and it still holds importance to this day.
Martin Luther King was a very influential person during the civil rights movement and played a big role in social injustice as well. Unfortunately King was assassinated in 1968 but what he has done for African Americans will be carried on for a long time. If it weren’t for his efforts to fight for equality, then it is possible that things today could have been the same as they were then.