Martin Luther King's Analysis

Education is a crucial part of an individual’s life. Quality education promotes one’s social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development, acquiring the skills to be a productive member of society. Dr. King was an advocate for the true practice of education, as education “enables a man to be more efficient, to achieve the increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life” (Nieto 3). Dr. King’s college years impacted his social activism, because Dr. King did not only acquire the knowledge, but he critically analyzed the information he learned about Gandhi’s nonviolent method and applied it to create a better world to live in for all races, genders, and classes of people. Dr. King was a “man who made a commitment to actually apply what

he had learned in the crucible of society” (Griffin 27). The Dr. Martin Luther King seminar class emphasized to students that education is not about just the grade or degree, but it is about acquiring the knowledge that can be applied for the future. This was the first African Studies course I have taken and I expected it to be another typical history class, which repeated the stereotypical Dr. King taught in history books. However, this course was not merely about studying Dr. King or black people, but about understanding and studying black people to transform their condition. Unlike other classes, it was not another lecture class, a biography of Dr. King, where students are close-minded and replicate thoughts, but instead this class allowed students to discuss, share, and collaboratively learn. It allowed the student to understand the multi-dimensions of Dr. King and connect his relevance today to contemporary society.
On January 12, 2016, I was just another nervous and anxious first-year student that wanted to learn the information that was necessary to get a good grade to progress in my studies for my degree.

However, after learning about the impact of college years on Dr. King, it opened my eyes to the impact of college education, as “the moment of epiphany in the mind of a college student can lead to a social revolution” (Griffin 29). It is important to think for one-self, critically analyze information and to not see everything for face-value. It is easy to be invaded by legions of half-truth, prejudice, and propaganda, especially going through education in a public system, which has controlled the narrative of Dr. King as a “dreamer.” Throughout the passage of time, interpretation of people, events, and movement change, as “remembrance is always a form of forgetting, twisted by ideology, political connections, embedded in heritage tours, public rituals, textbooks, and in aspects of mass culture” (Hal1 1245). By not learning about the Civil Rights Movement that has been tailored to make the leaders of significant movement appear boring and less believing in this class, it enabled me to think critically and understand that the Civil Rights Movement is an undefeated and unfinished revolution. In America today, an ongoing Civil Rights movement is being fought. This class enabled the scholars to practice the true function of education, which is to “sift and weight evidence, to discern the

true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from fiction” (Hall 1235). By learning about the key and significant facts about Dr. King’s life that are unheard, it helped to understand the full context of Dr. King’s dream and realize that it is far from fulfilled.
It is a common perception that leaders are perfect and unflawed, defining their life to one significant moment. Dr. King was a brilliant Civil Rights leader, but he is still a human with his own opinions and weaknesses. Without this class, Dr. King would always be perceived as an unflawed human, who never fell weak and encompassed every hardship easily. However, Dr. King was flawed. He was an advocate for equality and justice for the black people and the underprivileged poor community. Nevertheless, Dr. King was also a sexist and did not do anything to stop sexism in the church, in the SCLC, and in the SNCC. For example, Ella Baker was an organizer and strategist for many of SNCC’s activities, however, she received mistreatment from other men, who dismissed her work, where “patriarchal ethos took over” (Simmons 194). Just like other men during the era, Dr. King was a sexist, whose views on women were shaped by the era, leading him to rarely challenge traditional gender roles and values. In addition, by going through a public education system, Dr. King’s non-violent approach made him seen as the most peaceful individual, who was willing to fight for anyone’s struggle for peace. However, this class brought to my awareness that King was antiwar, believing that fighting in the Vietnam War was unnecessary, as the American people were forcing the Vietnamese people to accept what America was saying was right for them, even though America had no guarantee of winning the war. Moreover, many poor people were paying the price, facing death and seeing their homes being destroyed. The America people needed to support the poor people at home and resolve the issue in front of them, instead of fighting abroad against old systems of exploitation and oppression. The three million dollars that were used for the war could have been used for jobs in education and health care (Simmons 201). Dr. King should not be remembered solely for a few significant moments in his life, such as his “I have a dream speech” and March on Washington. People are more than one defining moment.
Furthermore, the discussion of spirituality and religion in relation to the Civil Rights movement helped me understand more clearly the power of spirituality and how it impacted Dr. King to choose non-violence as the method over violence to attain justice and equal rights for the black people. Even though Dr. King practiced Christianity, I was able to see the power of faith and spirituality through Dr. King’s teachings. It does not have to be religion, spirituality or faith is also a “dynamic and spiritually transforming force in the life of the individual as well as the whole of the society” (Scott King 6). Moreover, I never understood how Dr. King could have the strength to choose non-violence and not retaliate, especially when experiencing himself and seeing other members of the black population being abused by the white population. By reading Dr. King’s stance on nonviolence, I recognized how non-violence and love for humanity creates a new relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed, “lifting up the oppressed physically and materially and the oppressor spiritually” (Scott King 10). Spirituality is a powerful force in overcoming hardships, because as a leader Dr. King faced people who did not agree with his views and wanted to stop Dr. King from fighting for the rights of the black population. For example, FBI went to the extent of discrediting Dr. King’s character with the use of “conspicuous surveillance” to harass, intimidate, “constraint and control behaviors scaring off potential activists and driving those who have already become involved” (Boykoff 732). Dr. King’s fight was not easy, because just like any other leader he fell weak during difficult times, but spirituality and faith helped him overcome these hardships. This class made me aware of the impact of spirituality and faith in leadership, especially.
Moreover, through this class I learned not only about the issue of racism in the country, but the fact that there are many problems underlying in the American system, such as capitalism and economic exploitation and how even in 2016 these issues are still prevalent. For example, this class made me draw connections to the issues of social justice today, as many people today are still left “unschooled, untrained, ill-housed, and ill-fed” where their jobs are being replaced with automation (King 120). The poorer communities are struggling in poverty in the midst of the educated, wealthy, and privileged white population. When listening to the speech by Dr. King on the evils of society, it emotionally moved me, because it brought awareness to how many things are flawed and how militarism, economic exploitation, and materialism all need to be fixed for peace to happen. The speech made me aware that even though we celebrate Dr. King’s life and legacy, progress has become stagnant after Dr. King’s death. America needs a redistribution of values, such as economic values and political power. The class disparity between the rich and the poor are too vast. Many people can say they have compassion and are helping the inhumane conditions of the poor today, but the speech made you understand that compassion is more than throwing a coin to a beggar, but actually applying or using the knowledge and resources you have to create a social change. Some people should not be living in inordinate wealth with an overabundance of opportunities, while others are living in abject poverty with little to no opportunities to succeed or better their circumstances.
Therefore, after learning about the flaws in the American system, I came to understand the different cultures of the black and white population, their “general design for living and patterns for interpreting reality” to better understand why the white population and black population had different perceptions of right versus wrong (Hall 1260).

By learning the different worldviews of the two cultures, how they make sense of the world, it helped me to understand better the reason for the difference in values and beliefs between the white population and black population. For example, the African worldview consists of the cosmology value that things are interconnected and interrelated and the axiology value of human-to-human relationship, community and interaction. Also, in the African worldview, the African people soul and spirit is what makes the person and guides one’s life, therefore also having the epistemology value that the source of knowledge is beyond the five sense and is more of our intuition (Carroll 25). On the other hand, the European worldview consists of the cosmology value that things are distinct and the axiology value of person to object relationships. (Carroll 23). In addition, for the European people, the ontology and epistemology values are apprehended by the five senses. The vast differences in values and belief were driven by the difference in their sense of

reality.
This class was a crucial part of my education at Seton Hall University, because especially also being in a leadership organization focusing on social justice, a class on Dr. King made me aware of the many problems remaining in America today. The Civil Rights movement is an ongoing fight today. Many of the social justice issues would have remained unknown without this class, as the power imbalance imposed by institutions, such as public schooling systems have silenced the social justice issues still prevalent in society today. This class reminded the scholars the important of not taking our rights for granted and the importance of voicing our opinion to reduce ignorance. It is important to not only have political power, but to exercise this right, in order for the voices of the underprivileged to be heard. This class reminded me the importance and true objective of education.