Everyone knows who Dr. Martin Luther King is, and if you do not shame on you! It must mean you did not pay attention in any of your US History classes. I feel like the only reason people know of Dr. King is because of their history classes. People just know that he did something for civil rights but when I ask them more about it they give me a blank look. "Why should we care? It already happened...," is the usual response I get. Although, I will admit I know the basics of Dr. King's accomplishments and life I am far more aware of his importance to our current day life. Now, no one questions the fact that there are blacks, whites, browns, yellows, whatever color you decide to add in there, interacting with each other in a regular basis. People don't realize that this a few decades ago would have been unimaginable.
Maybe socially King is not the King. His accomplishments will always make him a King, but if people do not take the effort to keep his name and image alive he will fade like many, many, many, historical figures have. I believe that what Dr. King was fighting for has not been fully accomplished and because his fight still lives on to this day, maybe in different forms but in the end it is the same basic problem. Because of this, Dr. King should still be King. People need to use him, and many of the other civil rights figures, to keep on fighting and to draw support and knowledge from. People can still take so much from what he achieved, from his speeches and images and ideas.
I fear for King, I fear that he will soon just become a historical figure that we need to learn. I am afraid that he will become a vacant name although what he fought for has taken a different form, perhaps now different people are being attacked. To me King will not stop being King until another King comes in to further out his story/legacy.
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