Charlotte

=Martin Luther King by Charlotte=

Hello my fellow leaders. We live in a very important and influential time in this year of 1968. We are currently at war against communism in Vietnam, women are fighting for their rights, teens are rebelling and creating a counterculture and my fellow African American brothers and sisters are fighting for black rights as well. We have the opportunity for change in our hands right now in this year. We are all here to discuss what we should do with this chance for change that has just happened to fall into our own laps.

I know everyone here has differing views, but I am here to put my own cards on the table, and express my feelings about African American rights. As many of you well know, we have gained political rights through the Civil Rights act in 1964 after the whole //Brown Vs. Board of Education// trial. Though African Americans gained more rights and got at least some equality from this Act, African Americans were still not voting. I myself feel that this is a very important right for African American citizens to possess. This is when I helped with the Mississippi Summer Freedom Project during what became known as the Freedom Summer. Southern Whites were preventing African Americans from voting through unnecessary tests such as a mandatory literacy test. This was a very important time in my life because I felt that I was able to connect to my fellow African American friends, giving them a voice in their government. Mr. President Johnson eventually signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that outlawed literacy tests to 7 of the southern states. However, these political gains are not the stopping point for African American civil rights. Instead of settling for segregation, and getting laws passed for integration, African Americans should fight for their right for economic equality. I am currently working on the Poor People’s Campaign, which is going to serve as the Birmingham for economic equality. In these city ghettos, African Americans are living in slums with no job, no education and no will to fight. Hopefully from this campaign I am working on, there will be an economic bill passed and hopefully economic equality for African Americans. Many whites are afraid of this fact; that blacks are threatening their jobs, but the truth is we are a threat. We are men and women, and deserve the same jobs as whites if we have the same credentials.

The only way African Americans achieved these political goals and hopefully how we will achieve our economic goals, was through non-violent demonstrations and peaceful negotiations. I myself truly believe in Ghandi’s works, and that peaceful tactics are the way to achieve harmony and equality. Many of my friends and onlookers say, “but how can you be kind to these people who have oppressed you for so long?”, and I just remember that you must love your enemy and praise those who accuse you (“Non-Violent”). In this way, the whites become uncomfortable and will no longer have the power to fight against your kindness. However my friends, these political gains were not enough for some of my followers and those fed up with our situation. The Black Panther Party, a member who I believe is present, formed and developed very radical ideas about how African Americans should achieve civil rights. These people believe that blacks should not just assimilate into a mainly white society, but rather resist this reality and force violent acts upon their oppressor. This is a foolish tactic that will never work in this society. Though these whites have been taken away our liberty, we can’t just simply form a wall against blacks and whites. Everyone wants a united nation, a strong nation that would be able to fight off our biggest fear of communism. When we have a divided nation, nothing will be accomplished. Instead of becoming violent and acting irrationally, we should compromise and meet with our nation’s leaders, which is exactly my goal in this year.

“Poor People’s Campaign”. __American Experience__. 23 March 2006. PBS. 11 December 2007. <[|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/15_poor.html>.]
 * Works Cited**

“Non-Violent”. __American Experience__. 19 January 2004. PBS. 11 December 2007. <[|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/sfeature/sf_bible.html>.]

“Chapter 31: The Poor People’s Campaign”. __The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.__ The Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. 11 December 2007. <[|http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/autobiography/chp_31.htm>.]