Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now than Then: Relevance of His Words to Today
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
–Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 from his “Beyond Vietnam” speech.
If you look at the world today and the world of when there was discrimination and actual physical separation of races through color, you will see we have come far. We have become a multiracial, multicultural, and multiethnic society. However, this quote, spoken by Dr. King, still applies to us.
We have been spending more money on military defenses, especially with the Iraq War going on. Even though the nation spends some money on the programs of social uplift, we have given less importance on the issues Dr. King has spoken of. Perhaps it’s because the larger portion of the population of the United States no longer discriminates people through races.
We still hear those words, “I have a dream”, and feel awed by him. We feel inspired to not judge people by races, even stereotypes. And we do. Most of us don’t judge people by the color of their skin and we all try to not be affected by the stereotypes that are in television, movies, and entertainment like that. However, there are even more problems within us as a whole unit of people.
When Dr. King said the quote above, he was referring to the discrimination through colors. However, today, what he said refers to more than just color. It refers to the health care issues, unemployment, housing problems, races in general, and much more. Because of this, what he said rings true even more now than then. Right now, as I mentioned before, we have the Iraq War going on. War costs the country a lot of money and sometimes it doesn’t get us anywhere. Sometimes, the only outcomes of a war are the loss of lives and money. Sometimes, it may not even be an official war but an undeclared war, like the Vietnam War. Anyhow, today’s situation is the perfect example that goes well with the quote above.
The programs of social uplift that occur all around in the United States should be given more attention and have money spent on them by the government. There are still problems and will be for a while. Also, perhaps what Dr. King said is more of a warning to us, telling us that if our government continues to spend most of its money on military defenses, things are going to get worse. All in all, what Dr. King said is relevant to the United States today, even though we have progressed much from his time.
This website was created by J.H.L. from Tri-North Middle School.