The Importance Of Discrimination In Martin Luther King's A Lesson Before Dying

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“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls” (King 1). A famous quote by Martin Luther king Jr., a civil rights activist in the 20th century whose goal was to abolish Racism. His most popular speech, titled “I Have a Dream” was a call to millions of Americans to see the division of the nation and the negative impact of prejudice and hatred which racism begets. Racism is a sully to our society which is founded on the basis that “all men are created equal” (The Declaration of Independence). It divides based on your skin color, a misplaced hatred which does not judge humans on the quality of their character or their love or kindness towards society. It is a thorn of discrimination …show more content…

According to Dickerson Dennis author of African American Religious Intellectuals and the Theological Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement, 1930-55, King declared that "segregation stands diametrically opposed to (the equality) principle" (King 2). Instead, "the tragedy of segregation is that it treats men as means rather than ends, and thereby reduces them to things rather than persons"(King 3). Likewise, in A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines character, Grant Wiggins also holds a similar perception to Martin Luther King’s description of White Americans view of African Americans. Grant states, “White people believe they are better than anyone else on earth- and that’s a myth. The last thing they ever want is too see a black man stand…and show that common humanity is in us all. It would destroy their myth. They would no longer have justification to having made us and keeping us as slaves… They play by the rules their forefathers said that we’re only three-fifths human- and they believe it to this day” (Gaines 192). This shows how African Americans were unequally treated and segregated dating back to centuries and were seen to be inferior to White Americans because of the misplaced hatred in their heart, known as …show more content…

This quote shows racial profiling in A lesson Before Dying because the saleswoman racially profile Mr. Grant. Gaines shows through the saleswoman tone that she felt like Grant could not afford the radio because he was an African American. In the global world, Racial Profiling is a major issue because it is based on the assumption that “certain individuals, usually of a particular race, religion, or ethnic group, are more likely than others to commit crimes” (“Racial Profiling”). An example of racial profiling was when, Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a vigilante white man in Florida. He was shot on his way back from buying a snack because he was an African American who he suspected was about to commit a crime (“Racial Profiling”). In New York, a policy known as Stop and Frisk allowed police officers to question and search random people on the street with the assumption that they had illegal substances or weaponry. According to statistical data, Stop and Frisk was majorly directed towards minorities, “with about 55 percent directed at blacks, 32 percent at Latinos, and 10 percent at whites” (“Racial

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