“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”
Martin Luther King Jr. may have known the speech he would make on Aug. 28, 1963, would impact lives, but he probably did not realize his words would continue to inspire future generations.
As part of the generation who wasn’t alive during this dramatic and inspiring point in our nation’s history — the words carry a lot of weight, but not as much weight as they did to those who lived during this time.
For those of us who didn’t witness the civil rights movement with our own eyes, it’s easy for us to forget just how far this nation has come and how hard we must continue to fight to not slip backward.
We need reminders from the past on the importance of the civil rights movement so we can continue to move forward.
“The Help,” a novel turned into a record-breaking movie, shows us why we should care and continue to push our boundaries.
It makes viewers/readers think — “What would I have done in that situation?” Would you have been able to show courage and risk everything to make a change in the world around you? Or would you have put up with the status quo simply because that’s what you were taught to do? These are tough questions to answer, but ones that are worth considering.
Works like “The Help” are important because they remind us to stand up for what we know is the right thing to do, which oftentimes, isn’t easy. Every racist joke you make, every instance of injustice that you watch while sitting idly by and every close-minded thought you let your brain keep takes our generation a step backward.
So if you’re wondering how this affects you as a 20-something college student, I broke it down for you.
Just because your parents think something is true or right, doesn’t mean it necessarily is either of those things. You came to college to pursue an education. No matter how hard you work to memorize a textbook or ace a test, none of those things really matter at the end of the day if you haven’t tried to learn more about the world around you. If you don’t try to challenge your worldview, you aren’t really learning.
The display of racism that was made in the book/movie is enough to make any free-thinking person sick to their stomachs. How could anyone have thought it was OK to treat another human being that way?
In 2011, we should be past this. Why does color matter? Why can’t we just judge people not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?”
