Black Lives Matter (Research Paper Sample)

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Martin Luther King, a Negro, is acknowledged amongst the most prominent personalities in African-American history. He was a revolutionist and a Baptist preacher, central to the American Civil Rights movement from the 1950s until he was assassinated in 1968. African Americans were looked down upon by the whites in almost every sphere of life. Seeing this inequality, King rose to be a backbone of African Americans, seeking and ensuring equality and provision of fundamental human rights for his economically undermined and disregarded people. The King landed his footsteps in this world on January 5th, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Having the benefit of his family being prominent in politics, Martin Luther King gained his early education in segregated public schools and reached 15 years of age. He was enrolled in Morehouse College. Although he had no intention of being delved into the politics as his forefathers, but observing his mentor at the college as being a voice to racial equality, King changed his mind and decided to put in his sweat until all the Negroes are provided with their basic rights. Upon completion of the course from Morehouse College, he attained his graduation from Boston University in 1953, and in the following two years, King attained the degree of doctorate in systematic theology. This was the time when Martin Luther King was completely equipped, mentally sound, and courageous enough to stand up for his community. Minorities in almost every corner of the world are denied their rights unless a moon amongst the stars rises to lead them from the front. For the African Americans of those times, Martin Luther King was that moon who fought for his community members at different platforms and laid down his life in this holy cause. He was loved, respected, and honored, simultaneously detested and abhorred by the people in command. The irony took his life. But the sheer determination of King was the reason his people got what they deserved. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere – Martin Luther King. CITATION Mar09 \l 1033 (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
The Montgomery Bus Boycott incident was a stepping stone towards Martin Luther's King achievement. An African American, on December 1st, 1955, in Rosa Parks, refused to grant her place to a fellow white commuter in a bus. Her actions brought her the consequence of her arrest for just denying her seat. Following this incident, the city's civil rights activist formulated a small group to raise their voices against this unlawful act and inculcated Montgomery Improvement Association for the purpose of boycotting this discriminating system, choosing Martin Luther King as their representative. Although it was harmful and threatening to King's family, he still continued to take up this issue on a public platform. Being new in the city and generally well respected, he had almost no enemies and had an advantageous edge of being well-educated and a well-trained person. His words acted as a beacon of light in the wilderness of darkness. "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years, we have shown amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice". This statement gave people a beam of hope, rose their spirits, and introduced a new dogma of civil struggle. In the year latter to this peaceful protest, Montgomery's all buses were desegregated.
Martin Luther King, after the success of the bus incident, needed a national platform through which he could address and vocalize his movement to every corner of the Southern United States. To fulfill this purpose and recognizing that a widespread movement is the need of the hour, Martin Luther King formed a Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), a platform that was the base of his movement. Through this platform, King provided knowledge and awareness to the people in all parts of the country and sat at one table with religious and civil rights leaders at the domestic and international levels. For instance, he met with Indian Leadership in February 1959, the outcome of which was his increasing resilience for the non-violent protests. In the year 1960, King, along with his family, shifted to Atlanta. There, he served as a co-pastor shoulder to shoulder with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Through this platform, he continued to provide services for SCLC, until in October of the same year, he was arrested along with fellow 33 Negro members over a minor traffic issue that happened much earlier. The powerful just needed an excuse to hinder King's road to success. John F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate of that time, played a vital role in the bail of King and his fellow colleagues. Despite his arrest, King held on to the mindset of peaceful protests. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that".
"The time is always right to do what is right" – Martin Luther King. The tenure from 1960 to 1965 is too considered as the time when King's influence reached sky-high. Being tactful and intelligent and a person with sheer determination, he rapidly understood the power of electronic media and consequently caught a great deal of their attention. King utilized this platform to reach out to people nationally and internationally. His well thought out strategies for non-violent protests such as marches, sit-ins gave a sense of unity among the African-Americans and set off an allegiance between the Negroes and liberal whites against unlawful oppression and racism against the blacks. This was seconded by John F Kennedy's administration. "I have a dream" speech of King, made a passage to Civil Rights Act 1964, enforcing the federal government of the time to end the desegregation of racial discrimination in the publicly owned facilities and in the employment sectors as well. King expressed his faith in this speech, the nutshell of which is the unity among mankind. He hoped for all the men to be brothers one day, irrespective of their color and creed. CITATION Cla98 \l 1033 (Carson)
The Black Lives Matter movement signifies the international solidarity against the black's unjustified killings, particularly in the extent of repression displayed by the police. It was formed in the United States in 2013. BLM values the lives of blacks as much as the lives of whites. It all initiated when an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, was shot by George Zimmerman only because Martin looked suspicious in Florida in February 2012. Initially, BLM was given birth on social media by three black community members. Later on, it held massive peaceful protests in the United States as well as abroad. The movement is affiliated with a nonprofit Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which is fully operational in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Zimmerman roamed free for months until in April he was arrested, but on this trial, he alleged to have reacted in self-defense and in July 2013 was acquitted. This was seen as an act of sheer injustice and led to a new pace of nationwide protests led by the BLM. "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" – M. de Voltaire.
The murders of two more blacks, Eric Garner and Michael Brown, led to the further expansion and increment in the influence of the BLM in 2014. Garner was held in an unjustified long-held choke by a white police officer. T