The Ways of Meeting Oppression

 The Ways of Meeting Oppression
Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. following in the footsteps of his father Martin Luther King is an influential and well loved black rights activist. why I used present tense? That’s because even thought Mr. King died in 1968, he is still influential to this day and will be forever. Oppression is something that black people and other minorities face everyday. Martin Luther King and his son have become two spear heads that have inspired and pushed for black Americans especially to not since into their oppressive state but to push past them.

In the illustration ‘The Ways is Meeting Oppression’, Mr King talks about the three characteristics that black people use to deal with oppression. Firstly, acquiescence. According to King is when persons who are oppressed accept their doom. They accept themselves as oppressed. Moreover, King explains that it is because many persons who are oppressed fear the unknown and would much rather stick with familiarity. Some just give up and don’t even bother to fight. “Been down so long that down don’t bother me”, and example King Jr gave in the illustration. This fight is a hard fight , and one thing I agree with for sure, is that to accept oppression and not fight for freedom is an evil thing so do.  Why? Because not fighting reinforces the oppressor that what they’re doing is okay and that we will just take it. GBecause fighting oppression is not just for ourself, it’s for the future generation. Fighting is saving the children from a world as harsh and every generation should continue the fight. 

Secondly, persons deal with oppression by resorting to violence. This violence leads to nothing. It is a temporary win but in the end only makes things worse and not better. We should not deal with oppression by resulting to violence, especially since it reinforces some of the stereotypes that white people think about us. Furthermore,  resorting to violence just as acquiescence leaves the future generation at a disadvantage and they would have to feel will the fall out of actions of those before them. 

Thirdly, the is the way that was promoted by King and is still used to this day, nonviolent resistance. Non violence resistance is standing up for yourself and fighting for your right in a non confrontational but direct manner. Staying in their communities and fighting for their rights in a non violent way is a slow process but it is the best as people and things do not change over night. This style of non physical fighting of rights is popular in groups like black lives matter, for freedom and many more. Everybody is fighting for their right as a minority for things to change. The is a global fight and though Martin Luther King and Martin Luther King Jr. may not have understood at the time the grasp of their impact, they have impacting peoples lives globally and gave people the inspiration and the words that helped them to keep up the fight for themselves and the future.