Terry Sheridan, Ada High School, sophomore, was third place winner in the Third Annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Essay Contest.
The purpose of the essay contest is to challenge students to think about how Dr. King's philosophy can be used to resolve social justice issues in today's society. His essay follows:
By Terry Sheridan
Dr. Martin Luther King is a very well known name to those in the United States and many other countries “sweltering with the heat of injustice.”
One may know him solely due to the holiday in his honor, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, are inspired by his work and are very familiar with his life and practices. Dr. King is best known for his work in the United States where he led many nonviolent protests.
His goal was to achieve justice and equality for the African Americans, who despite being in America for centuries and citizens under the Constitution, enjoyed very little freedom. Dr. King’s struggle in America is very well documented and is where he began his “quest”.
Over the course of his life and probably from the start, his ideas and knowledge didn’t only pertain to America. He wanted global peace for men and women and everyone and everything in between that. As he wrote in the Birmingham Letter, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
In the modern era, the 21st century, many experience their fair share of discrimination. Humans, as a race, have completely failed to accept the differences of others.
It seems that every nation with any diversity, be it religion, skin tone, gender or nationality is scarred by tension between the two, or possibly more, parties.
In the United States racism is still alive and well. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and in this modern era no clearer an example exists than what is happening in the Middle East, more specifically, Iraq and Syria. ISIS, the terrorist organization that is very similar to the Kardashians in the way you can’t quite seem to avoid hearing about them has been gaining momentum.
These ‘so called Muslims’ use violence in practically every form available to them in order to establish their “Caliphate”. Atrocities such as beheadings and genocide might as well be ‘commonplace’ to them.
ISIS enforces strict Sharia Law which is a set of rules that look to violate every freedom people should have. Crimes such as drinking and heresy are punishable by 30 lashes. Drug offenses are often punishable by death. Freedom of speech is practically non existent unless the only thing that needs to be said is, “Allah is great” and “I’m so thankful ISIS has liberated me.”
Their ‘very interesting to say the least’ version of Islam and the injustice it supplies doesn’t just remain in the area under their control. Due to the actions of these terrorist groups, the muslims in America are subject to scrutiny that wouldn’t have existed if not for the incredible amount of racist, hate speech circulating through the media.
Specifically those competing for the Republican primary have really done a stellar job of making blatant racism completely feasible. In Texas there are groups of men with guns who protest Islam outside mosques and then proceed to follow some of the worshippers home, still with guns.
Due to the insanity and conflicts that are happening 6,677 miles away, these acts are occurring. Muslims make up approximately one percent of the adult population in the U.S.
That doesn’t seem like very much but, one percent of the adult population is 1.8 million people. 1.8 million people facing discrimination every day because of the atrocities of a ridiculously miniscule group of people in comparison, sharing the same faith, Islam, with completely different values from practically every other muslim, 6,677 miles away.
Injustice anywhere is certainly a threat to justice everywhere and at the moment, no-one knows more about it than our Muslim population.
In the U.S. racism takes up more forms than just harassment and stereotypical assumptions. That type of racism is referred to as ‘individual racism’. The next step up is ‘institutional racism’ which is what Dr. King was addressing when he conducted mass sit ins and boycotted buses and stores that treated African Americans as lesser to white people.
Institutional racism is a form of racism that occurs as part of society because a large group of people, who believe themselves to be superior, control most of the services.
Finally, we have structural racism. This is when racism is embedded into society like a sabre delving into the flesh of justice. From structural racism all other forms of racism emerge and display themselves, typically quite blatantly.
Whether or not we like to admit it, racism is alive and well in America and just as American as apple pie. Right now we have men competing for the presidency with the overpowering message that America is being taken away from white people by immigrants and African Americans.
They’re saying the most perverse of comments and are getting away with it because many of the white, American population truly believe the nation is being overrun by foreigners. Donald Trump literally stated, “We have a muslim problem”. A MUSLIM PROBLEM. Muslims are not a cockroach infestation, they are people. They are American citizens who deserve to be treated as such just like every other American citizen.
We have a racism problem, a racism problem deeply rooted in society since the birth of our country. Our country, founded on the belief that every citizen, regardless of who they may be and where they might be from, has the right to the same liberties as every other citizen. Not necessarily just in the US but throughout history we’ve seen that if it’s considered reasonable to deny rights to one, then it’s reasonable to deny rights to the rest of that man’s people and that’s how injustice can spread.
Injustice in one instance leads to another and it grows until it’s an accepted, almost irreversible part of society.
No one to ever set foot on American soil has faced more injustice than the people dragged here from Africa in 1619, nearly 400 years ago. From slavery to lynchings to dehumanization and violence, African Americans have and continue to be, the unwanting recipients of unspeakable acts of terror.
Structural racism plays a massive role in America. The media has dedicated unreal amounts of time covering the police shootings and violence directed toward the African American community. However, the problem we face, as a nation, goes far beyond that.
Throughout the course of an African American’s life, he or she will face more discrimination than most will ever realize because most white Americans like to believe in a deluded fairytale where racism is “standing on its last leg”. If racism is on its last leg than racism is a violent three-legged kangaroo who feels no shame.
We should begin our adventure as an African American in pre-school. We’ll refer to him as Douglas. The goal of our society seems to be to criminalize black people at an early age and then blame them for our problems.
The preschool population consists of approximately 18% black children yet they make up half of the out-of-school suspensions. Wow. Prior to this I wasn’t even aware a child could be handed a suspension in preschool.
Now the same African American child, Douglas, is is going through school, K-12. Little does he know, black children like him are three times more likely to be suspended than white children which is appalling. Statistics gathered show that, “More than two-thirds of students referred to police are either black or hispanic.” To put it in perspective, let’s say Douglas and his white friend, Ralph, committed a crime, not a particularly meaningful one.
They’re in it together but again, very little does Douglas know, he is 18 times more likely to be sentenced as an adult than his friend Ralph. Ralph gets off with some community service and will spend some time in a juvenile detention center but Douglas is less fortunate.
He is tried as an adult and will spend time in prison. This isn’t just a coincidence. His entire life he was treated like a prisoner, now he really is one. It doesn’t just stop there. Black people serve sentences up to 20% longer than white people for nearly identical crimes.
After a grueling, almost certainly unnecessarily long sentence, Douglas is “free” once more. He wants to pursue a career but for the third time, little does he know even if he goes through college the odds are still against him.
Black college graduates are half as likely to obtain a job as their white counterparts. The jobless rate for African Americans is twice that of white people today just as it has been for decades. However, despite all the hardship he has faced, Douglas determines he will not give up in his quest for success. He has made it through college even with the odds against him. He has acquired a job and now, Douglas believes he can afford a house - A luxury available to 73% of white people.
If this isn’t redundant, I don’t know what is, but for the fourth time, little does he know, only 43% of African Americans own a house. Douglas won’t be deterred by that statistic and after searching he discovers a house and purchases it. Douglas has succeeded!
Congratulations to Douglas, but we can’t ignore the 57% of black people who can’t afford houses. We can’t ignore that the median household income for whites is $91,000 and for blacks, $7,000. That’s a difference that’s been getting much larger, tripling in fact.
We can’t ignore that Douglas is three times more likely to be searched at a traffic stop and will be subjected to factless bigotry and discrimination for the rest of his life.
Structural racism is a huge problem, and if it continues to be ignored by those who claim to be true Americans then it’ll never end and pretending like the injustice isn’t here only makes it worse. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and that has never been more clear.
We can go and say, “oh, it’s their fault, etc, etc, etc.” But it isn’t. This racism, xenophobia and bigotry is the result of hundreds of years of injustice completely ignored and neglected by those in power. We’re focusing so much on conflicts overseas that we’ve completely ignored the real issues of injustice, inequality and even hate that American citizens face in their everyday lives.
Every citizen of America is supposed to be guaranteed to same rights as everyone else and especially justice in our court systems. So, why haven’t they? Acquiescence- A crime Dr. Martin Luther King believes is worse than racism.
Those in positions of power have simply not done enough to ensure there is justice for all. Especially in America, our togetherness, our unity, is more important than anything and when we let fear and the racism that comes from it divide us, then we have failed as Americans.
As Americans, no matter who you are - your race, your gender, your skin tone - it is your duty, our duty, to ensure every citizen enjoys every single, last, unbelievably significant drop of freedom that our constitution bestows upon us. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
We have to be unified - “A nation divided cannot stand.” So instead of being divided by our differences, let them bring us together!
King dreamed of the day “when all God’s children, black men and white men, jews and gentiles, protestants and catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
