TJ Johnson
Paper 1
Comp 121
Is Black Black?
. History has shown when a government oppresses it’s people, the people will eventually revolt. Two great men, in American
history have proven this; Barack Hussein Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. These great men, these pioneers of change, shared more than skin
color. The desire to better their fellow man and their fight against injustice in the status quo are just a couple of similarities, in addition to some
contrasts that must be taken in to account before the following question can be answered. Is Barack Hussein Obama, the Luther King Jr. of our
time.
During the 2008 presidential elections, Barack Hussein Obama gave a speech entitled “ A More Perfect Union” . This speech set the
tone of his campaign, much in a similar way to how Martin Luther King jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech set the tone for the civil rights movement…
One of Martin Luther King jr.’s more famous lines is, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of
the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a
lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners
of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” (I have a dream
1)
Ad midst all the figurative language, the point is clear, form 1863 to 1963, Blacks in America had made little progress beyond the
property mentality. Much in the same way Barack Hussein Obama, hit the same nail on the head 23 years later when he said, “ This was one of
the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more
equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe
deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we
may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we
all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren. ”( A More Perfect Union 1)
A distinct difference between Barack Hussein Obama, and Martin Luther King jr. was what they set out to accomplish with their
speeches. Barack Hussein Obama said in his speech “But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be
making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the
negative to the point that it distorts reality.”( A More Perfect Union 4) How far has America really come if Barack Hussein Obama can’t be judged
on his character but on that of his pastor’s? Didn’t Martin Luther King jr., at the hight of the civil rights movement, say “ 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.” (I
have a dream 2)
In all of these quotes, both men express a need for a change in the society of their time. However, Unlike Barack Hussein Obama,
Martin Luther King jr. , in his speeches, tried to correct the injustice of racism in his time. Whereas Barack Hussein Obama with his speech, tried
and succeeded only in distancing him self form the very injustices of racism that Martin Luther King jr. set out to destroy. Is Barack Hussein
Obama, the Martin Luther King jr. of our time? No simply for the reason that Martin Luther King jr. changed the way people are thought of,
Barack Hussein Obama only segregated himself form the root of the problem. How Ironic.
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
