On MLK Day, Despair and Hope

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is arguably one of the most loved and respected historical figures, his impact on American history is unparalleled and unrivaled. It is easy to forget that before Dr. King started his fight, black people in the United States were considered and were treated as second class citizens. It was codified in the laws and an entire segment of the population was treated very badly in a country whose creed claimed to be that all men were created equal.

Before the civil rights movement picked up steam due to the leadership of Dr. King, the situation for African-Americans in the United States was dire, especially in the Southern states. After the civil war, southern legislatures passed laws, the Jim Crow laws, that were designed to keep the newly freed African-American in a subservient, inferior position to the white majority. Those laws made sure that black people were unable to vote, hold a position in the government, or accomplish any action that might prove them equal to whites. To insure such violation of constitutional rights, southern legislatures passed  fallacies such as the grandfather's law, the literacy tests, all part of the abominable Jim Crow laws. If you do not know these, please Google them to be able to truly understand the scope of this violation of human rights.

In the south, African-Americans could be killed just for looking at white women the wrong way, as Emmett Till would come to know. Lynching, which is hanging someone, was fairly common until the late fifties, and in most cases the white perpetrators of such murders were let go and even protected by the law. African-American children's schools were underfunded compared to their white peers. Separate but equal had been codified by the Supreme Court, but the facilities that were given to the black community were significantly lower in quality than their white counterparts. And in some states African-Americans even could not have vanilla ice cream, even simple pleasures were not safe. Such were the lives of African-American population before the civil rights movement, injustice, fear, and subtle slavery.

When the Rev.King took the mantle of the leader of the civil rights movement, he humanized the African-American community in the eyes of the white population. His non violence and civil disobedience were more effective than senseless violence and the country could no longer ignore injustices that had been tolerated for 400 years. He united the nation against segregation and racism. A civil rights bill was passed and in the eyes of the law, African-American people became the full equal of their fellow white citizens. Justice had been rendered.

March on Washington

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 declared that the constitution should be followed and that all men were equal in the eyes of the laws no matter what their race. A clarification needed to make sure that those who would still oppress people on the basis of their skin color, never have any justification. 50 years later, where is the country heading?

Progress should be expected, 50 years later, yet regression is what has happened. The Supreme court gutted Section 4 of the voting rights act, the section that gave the Department of Justice the right to cancel voting laws of some southern states that had been very opposed to the civil rights and that were deemed to continue their efforts of stifling the African-American and minority vote. In the wake of that ruling, several states have passed laws known was Voter Fraud laws, laws that insure that the African-Americans and other minorities presence at the voting booth diminishes greatly. Voter Fraud has been proven, by countless studies, to be virtually non existent and in the very rare case it occurs, it does not affect the results of an election. But the Voter ID rules, part of the Voter Fraud laws, makes sure that many elderly African-Americans who are unlikely to have identification do not get to vote. The same goes for many African-American and minority youths, who are less likely to have the form of identification required at the polls than their white counterparts. For the African-American community, the right to vote is highly prized and fought for very hard in the civil rights movement, to see it being attacked is a regression to the old Jim Crow laws, where under pretense for equality, those laws enslaved the population.

More recently there has been a wave of shootings of young African-American males by white police officers, where officers were not imprisoned or even reprimanded for those acts of murder. Michael Brown, Vonderitt Meyers, Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Eric Garner, they are all dead and their killers are free. Many people will point to some criminal records or shady acts by the slain victims, but here is a question to ponder on, are people deserving of death for the simple crime of robbing a store or illegally selling cigarettes? Yes, some of them have acted in an unsavory manner but that does not excuse the officers for ending their lives. The fact that the police officers have been much more free in using lethal force against African-American males have cause many to ask themselves the following question, do black lives matter less? Because how else can those situations be explained. It does look in some way that the officers know that there is less stigma in shooting African-Americans so they never consider any other way of dealing with the situation. It certainly reinforces the view, in many people eyes, that law enforcement and the country as a whole, people still defend the actions of those police officers, does not care or values the lives of African-Americans. It harks back to the days where Jim Crow ruled and lynchings and murders of black males were common place and swept under the rug.

Poverty has continued to be in the African-American and minority communities. In every metric possible, African Americans and other minorities are at a disadvantage when they are compared to their white counter part. The poverty level of the African-American community triples that of the Caucasian community. The African-American community is still plagued with high unemployment, low education level and many other problem that are vestiges of its 400 years of oppression, and 50 years from the civil rights act, there seems to be no solution.

Which such narrative, as the one aforementioned, it might look like the civil right movement failed and that all the work of Martin Luther King had been in vain. The steps backwards seem to suggest that. But there is hope.

The youth, especially following the killings of those African-Americans has mobilized itself. There has been an awakening in the United States when it comes to racial matters. The youth of all races has decided to stand up for those African-Americans who were unfairly killed and for the right of everyone regardless of skin color to be treated fairly. After the Eric Garner non indictment decision, the #Blacklivesmatter hashtag was born on social media to show that there were huge numbers of people who did not agree with the sensless killings. There have been protests in more than 130 cities in the United States against the verdict, many of them peaceful, continued the non-violence tradition of Dr. King. That movement has led many young people to look closely into race and race relations and many of them have discovered the injustice that is happening against minorities and they have began to speak up. Many of those young people who are mobilizing themselves, will grow to become the leaders of this country.

Another positive is that for the first time in a while, race is being discussed in the United States. Too quickly after the Civil Rights Act was passed, many people hurried to declare that equality had been enacted and that there were no more problems. Systematic racism was ignored and swept under the rug by many people. Discussing race became anathema in the political realm and in government, where everyone pretended that things were going well. With recent events, however it has become impossible to ignore the race factor, and people have begun to discuss it openly. As mentioned above, the youth has started this massive discussion which has spread around all age groups and demographics. People, no matter what is their opinion are talking, and that can only bring forth a good result. Every time this country has had a conversation about race in a significant way, it has come out of it as a fairer and more just society, as was the case with the civil rights movement and its result the Civil Rights Act.

Martin Luther King fought for justice and for every citizen, regardless of skin color, to be granted their full rights. It often looks like his fight has not been successful as many people still suffer just because they were born with pigmented skin. But he also created a movement that is everlasting as proven by the many people who are mobilizing themselves to fight for justice and equal rights. Dr. King did not labor for nothing. There is and will always be hope, even in despair.