Tag: 2014

Happy MLK Day!

Professor’s Response to the Progress Made as a Nation

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! My school put out a very interesting article on MLK Day with responses from several Georgia State University Professors sounding off about the progress we’ve made, and how MLK would feel about this day if he were here. I believe it started with the second professor referencing that infamous or highly hilarious (depending on your viewpoint) episode of “The Boondocks” (and also highly controversial) where MLK was actually in a coma and re-awakens in the late 2000s only to find he can’t vote, is criticized for his nonviolent approaches (in a post 9/11 MUST GET AL-QAIDA) world, and has to deal with some ‘less-than-savory” black people.

I actually didn’t have much problem with the episode when it aired, though I was younger then (ehh maybe a freshman or sophomore in college as opposed to a 5-year senior) but I thought only the ending where King cursed and uses racial epithets was slightly over the line. This episode while controversial, was not banned on US television airwaves (only an episode about Tyler Perry and BET studios were banned in this season of ‘The Boondocks’).

While we still have far to go, we can at least admit some change has happened. Everyone likes to point to what’s still wrong with America, but how ’bout we look at what’s still right? How ’bout we smile at all the little kids who have multi-racial friends, the little white boy who is best friends with a black kid, the now white teenager who dates a teenage black girl (some don’t even like this!!) the white person who has grown up in an urban environment, knows all the rap songs and more slang than I do. The reverse side, the black kid or family who has grown up in the country and embraces every part of it just as much as their white counterparts.

Though we still have changes to make, these scenarios happen more and more everyday. And not necessarily even because people want to, but because of moves, economics or other reasons they have to, and these days we have more people going along with it, then stirring conflict because of this integration. Take a moment and think about something you are grateful for that may or may not have been possible without the work of Dr. King.

Cheers,

Darris Pope