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YOU ARE SOMEBODY
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., WAS BORN ON APRIL 15, 1929, ATLANTA,GEORIGA AND LEARNED ABOUT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AT AN EARLY AGE. WHE HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD,HIS MOST FREQUENT PLAYMATE WAS AWHITE BOY WHOSE FATHER OWNED A NEIGHBORHOOD GROCERY STORE. ONE DAY, OUT OF THE BLUE, THE BOY'S PARENTS TOLD MARTIN TO GO AWAY AND NOT PLAY WITH THEIR SON ANY LONGER. BEWILDERED, MARTIN ASKED WHY. "BECAUSE WE ARE WHITE AND YOU ARE COLORED," THEY SAID. AT HOME, MARTIN CRIED TO HIS MOTHER, "WHY DON'T WHITE PEOPLE LIKE US?" SHE DROPPED EVERYTHING AND FOR SEVERAL HOURS EXPLAINED THE NATURE OF RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA, THE TRAGEDY OF SLAVERY AND OF SEGREGATION. SHE TOLD HIM TO HOLD HIS HEAD UP HIGH AND NOT LET WHAT WHITES SAID AND DID AFFECT HIM. "YOU MUST NEVER FEEL THAT YOU LESS THAN ANYBODY ELSE, SHE SAID. "YOU MUST ALWAYS FEEL THAT YOU ARE SOMEBODY." KING NEVER REALLY DOUBTED THAT, BUT LIKE EVERY SOUTHERN BLACK, HE LIVED IN A SEGREGATED, UNEQUAL SOCITEY. "ON THE ONE HAND, MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME THAT I SHOULD FEEL A SENSE OF SOMEBODINESS," HE LATER EXPLAINED. "ON THE OTHER HAND, I HAD TO GO OUT AND FACE THE SYSTEM, WHICH STARED ME IN THE FACE EVERY DAY, SAYING "YOU ARE LESS THAN,"YOU ARE NOT EQUAL TO.' SO THIS WAS A REAL TENSION WITHIN." THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH OF KING'S YOUTH, THE SYSTEM OF SEGREGATION DETERMINED THE PATTERNS OF LIFE. BLACKS ATTENDED SEPARATE SCHOOLS FROM WHITES, WERE BARRED FROM POOLS AND PARKS WHERE WHITES SWAM AND PLAYED, FROM CAFE`S AND HOTELS WHERE WHITES ATE AND SELPT. BLACKS NEVER ATTENDED MAJOR SOUTHERN UNIVERISTIES,AND ONLY WITH THE GREATEST DIFFICUTLY COULD THEY VOTE IN ELECTIONS. ON SIDEWALKS, THEY WERE EXPECTED TO STEP ASIDE FOR WHITES, AND IF EVER BLACK WERE TO GO INSIDE THE HOME OF A WHITE, HE ENTERED BY THE BACK DOOR NEVER THE FRONT. WHEN BLACKS TRAVELED, THEY PASSED THROUGH BUS AND TRAIN STATIONS WITH "COLORED" WAITING ROOMS, WATER FOUNTAINS, AND TOILETS ON THEIR WAY TO SEPARATE RAILWAY COACHES OR SEATS AT THE BACK OF THE BUS. IT TOOK A BRAVE PERSON TO CHALLENGE THE SYSTEM. YET IN SMALL WAYS BLACKS DID THEIR BEST TO RESIST HUMILIATION. WHEN KING WAS A CHILD, HIS FATHER TOOK HIM TO BUY A PAIR OF SHOES AT A WHITE-OWN STORE IN ATLANTA. FATHER AND SOON TOOK SEATS IN FRONT, NEAR THE WINDOW. A CLERK APPORACHED AND SAID, "I'LL BE HAPPY TO WAITE ON YOU IF YOU'LL JUST MOVE THOSE SEATS IN THE REAR OF THE STORE." "NOTHING WRONG WITH THESE SEATS, "THE ELDER KINGREPILED. "SORRY, BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO GO BACK THERE." MARTIN'S FATHER STAYED PUT. WE'LL BUY SHOES SITTING HERE OR WE WON'T BUY SHOES AT ALL, HE INSISTED. THE CLERK SHRUGGED AND WALK OFF. IN A MINUTE OR TWO, KING GOT UP, TOOK MARTIN BY THE HAND, AND STORDE FROM THE STORE. ON THE SIDEWALK, HE LOOKED AT HIS SON AND IN A VOICE FLUSED WITH ANGER SAID, "I DON'T CARE HOW LONG I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS SYSTEM, I AM NEVER GOING TO ACCEPT IT. I'LL OPPOSE IT TILL THE DAY I DIE!" ETC... |
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The copyright for this content entitled "YOU ARE SOMEBODY " has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
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This intel was contributed by bjk48
bjk48
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May, 2012
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