The struggle and fight for equality for people of color has always been a topic on the table but now it has returned, but in a new movement. Once again, history is repeating itself but with a new generation with new ideas and tactics. This issue has been a decades-long movement in the making that is fighting to end racial discrimination, disenfranchisement, and racial profiling in the United States. In this critical analysis essay the topic about the comparison and contrast of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Lives Matter movement will be analyzed, and will also show how these two movements are similar but with different circumstances.
During Martin Luther King Jr. lifetime the circumstances, society, and the United States all functioned differently than in today’s world. Martin Luther King Jr. decided to stand up against all odds to fight and protest for equal rights in the United States to create a better world that could one day accept all people of color as equals. Martin Luther King Jr. had many accomplishments in his lifetime leading up to his famous speech of “I have a dream” that will long live in history.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to sought out the end of racial discrimination, segregation, and economic injustice that was happening. This speech was widespread and did not only affect those local in Washington but those across the states struggling for justice, equality, and freedom from the unfairness of being racially profiled because many are classified as a minority and judged based on their color instead of who they are. This famous speech was not only a critical point in the civil rights movement but also in today’s world.
127 our experts are availableright now
This speech targeted people of color as his audience to stand up and make a change because if we didn’t start then, nothing would have changed, and segregation and other unjustified actions would take place in today’s society. Martin Luther King Jr. appealed to his audience by making them feel sympathy, regret, and shame on those who were treating others unequally. But on the other hand, he also made those who were suffering feel courage, hope, and the desire to make an impact and to start change because if his targeted audience did not start then, nothing would have improved. Even after that, Martin Luther King Jr. was still making enormous impacts on the world and people of all colors, far after his untimely death.
On the other hand, The Black Lives Matter Movement is fighting for similar reasons as Martin Luther King Jr., but with a few extra reasons to fight because over time different issues arise and need to be made public to create justice and equality. The Black Lives Matter Movement takes protesting to a different level than Martin Luther King Jr.. The Black Lives Matter Movement started with peaceful gatherings after the death of George Floyd and when most noticed that nothing was going to be done about his death, the organization and the African American community took a stand and it became a worldwide movement.
Many African Americans and community members started to rally around this and protest because for too many years the lives of colored people and African Americans have been overlooked and seen by some as not important or expandable. But the reality and the goal of this movement is to show that all lives matter and everyone needs to have equal rights no matter what gender, race, or ethnicity they may be, and this is what the Black Lives Movement is fighting for. They are fighting for equality, this is something that is very simple but is still not practiced by everyone in society. The Black Lives Matter Movement is targeting equal rights for all African Americans across the world. As a result, the protests are the first wave of trying to gain the public’s attention, but when that fails some will turn to a higher level of protesting that can result in riots that were not foreseen by the general public.
Many will agree that burning and looting of buildings, stores, and small businesses is not the answer to solving this civil right matter. Some may question how the looting and burning down buildings is making the circumstance any better and how it is solving the issue. All the violent protests that have been happening throughout the states are only making more problems instead of finding a solution to it. On the flip side, the few main similarities between Martin Luther King Jr. and The Black Lives Movement is that they are both fighting for equality, justice, and freedom from racial profiling that happens everyday in the United States while some over look it and turn a blind eye to it. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Lives Movement both are fighting for equal rights for African Americans and they both had a form of peaceful protesting.
The Martin Luther King Jr. and The Black Lives Matter Movement both had similarities but also had differences. Both movements were different because Martin Luther King Jr. had only peaceful protest and gathering that gave hope to people that had none. The Black Lives Matter Movement took the approach of using social media, protesting, and some resorted to violent protest. How these two movements compare is that Martin Luther King Jr. had only peaceful movements that never resulted in becoming violent or harming anyone or communities. The Black Lives Matter Movement had a few protests similar to Martin Luther King Jr. but some within the movement feared that the peaceful protest would do nothing and some decided to take a peaceful protest and make it a violent one to show that the African American community is tired of being treated differently.
Both had different circumstances that were very similar, but with modern day having social media and the internet, this one aspect made a huge change in comparison from Martin Luther King Jr. movement. With the Black Lives Matter Movement social media and the internet made the problem bigger than what it was with fake news, rumors, and certain people who disagree with equal rights for all by giving comments and starting tiny problems that will eventually become big. It is also true that both movements suffered but the main difference between both is that Martin Luther King Jr. kept all protests peaceful and tried to inspire those to take the same stand as him and unite. The Black Lives Matter Movement tried to do the same as Martin Luther King Jr. but with lots of fake news on social media it made it very difficult for the many of the people in the movement to stay united and fight as one instead of only individuals.
To conclude, Martin Luther King Jr. and The Black Lives Matter movement both fought and are fighting for equal rights for colored people. But both movements have proven that their tactics for going around and trying to create justice and equality is very different. In the past we had peaceful protests and speeches. Moving on to our current time period, we have so much fake news and many who claim that they are fighting for all but they are only fighting for their individual rights instead of everyone. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equal rights or better said civil rights for colored people and his movement started out small but became large and left a long lasting impact on the world.
But in more detail, The Black Lives Matter Movement is targeting equal rights for all African Americans but some citizens may still believe that not only African Americans need these rights, but others of color that are suffering in silence and have been turned a blind eye to and forgotten about. Many citizens of the various communities need to know that all people of color are suffering but everyone no matter who they are deserve equal rights. In other words, everyone’s lives matter and no one race is more important than others but all need to be treated equally from the government level to the community level to ever see change.
