This past weekend, the College paid tribute to a man and a movement that changed America. The Civil Rights movement and the many thousands of people who organized and participated in its protests, marches and demonstrations were instrumental in creating a second emancipation for African-Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery, but it certainly did not end discrimination and racism against black people. Until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the majority of African-Americans were denied the most fundamental right of U.S. citizens, the ability to vote. The Civil Rights movement by no means secured equality of opportunity, but, through legislation attempting to ensure that blacks had equal access to housing, jobs and education, it brought the U.S. closer to that goal.
Independence Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the two holidays the College officially observes, are linked by the fact that both celebrate freedom, the basis upon which our society was supposedly built. Independence Day celebrates freedom from foreign oppression; MLK Day commemorates freedom from domestic oppression. When the founders of our country proclaimed that we were free, they were not referring to the millions of people who remained shackled. We as a nation could not begin to claim that we were a free society until our government gave African-Americans their basic rights as citizens. The victories of the Civil Rights movement are easily more important than any achieved by a U.S. president and certainly by Christopher Columbus, who "discovered" land where thousands of people already lived.
One of the most powerful messages of King was his vision of a society where people of all races, nationalities, social classes and religions coexisted peacefully and equally. Recent events, particularly the Rodney King verdict and California's Proposition 187, all clearly demonstrate how far we are from reaching King's "dream." The growing gap between rich and poor, women's earnings of 71 cents to a white man's dollar and the poor quality of many inner-city public schools serve as additional examples of the widespread inequality in American society. The racist attacks on two Asian-American students several days ago and the homophobic attacks on a lesbian student last term illustrate that Dartmouth by no means remains free of intolerance and prejudice.
We are far from being in a society where "a man can be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin," as opponents of affirmative action have recently manipulated King's words to claim. The U.S. enslaved millions of people for hundreds of years. The legacy of that type of oppression does not just disappear but must be slowly deconstructed. Currently, over 90 percent of high level corporate positions are held by white men while more black men between the ages of 18 to 25 are in jail then are in college. These two groups of men are clearly given quite different message regarding the opportunities available to them.
Many speakers at last weekend's events honoring King stressed the importance of using the message and tactics of the Civil Rights movement to continue working for an equal society. Clayborne Carson, a history professor at Stanford and the keynote speaker at Dartmouth's MLK Day celebration, reminded the audience that individuals were the ones who sparked the movement. It took one woman's refusal to stand in the back of a bus before the black community in Montgomery Alabama boycotted the buses. Mass movements do not spring out of nowhere but are initially organized by a few people. After movements achieve some success, then more people join.
If you truly believe that there remains injustice in the world, do not sit quietly and wait for someone else to notice it too. Do something. First tell people you know: your friends, your roommates, your classmates. If they agree with you, great. Then organize a protest, a demonstration, a vigil. If others don't agree, don't be afraid to be the lone voice crying out for the cause of justice. Rosa Parks wasn't, Malcolm X wasn't, Stokely Carmichael wasn't. What are you waiting for?
King once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about things that matter." If you truly wish to honor the memory of King, going to a lecture or reading a book is not enough. You must actively work to promote the society he envisioned in his dream. Otherwise the struggle he lived and died for will have failed to achieve its goals. It is your responsibility to prevent that from happening.
