Martin Luther king Jr. (1929— 1968) was a martyr who devoted his life to the American black civil rights movement. He advocated non-violent protest against racism in American society, but during his active 12 years, his house was bombed, he was injured by stones and sticks, and he was arrested and imprisoned. In the end, he didn't escape racial discrimination.
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister. In order to admire the great German religious reformer Martin Luther, he also named his son Martin Luther, but added the word "little" because his father was also named Martin Luther King. Xiaojin graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta and received his Ph.D. from Boston University on 1955. He joined the clergy like his father and served as a priest in a Baptist church in Montgomery. Although the young pastor is knowledgeable and eloquent, Montgomery public is not familiar with him, and he is not famous. A little spark ignited the bitterness of Montgomery blacks. 1 955 65438+February1,a 42-year-old black woman got on the bus and found a seat. At this moment, a white man got on the bus. The driver told her to stand up and give her seat to the white man. This is an old habit in the southern United States, and it seems to be used to it. Moreover, Mongolian law stipulates that passengers must obey the driver's instructions, but Mrs. Parks won't let them. When the bus arrived at the next stop, Mrs Parks was arrested for "disorderly conduct" and fined $65,438+00. Black people in this city (accounting for 75% of all passengers in the car company) lodged a solemn protest with the company and announced a "strike". Gail, the mayor of Montgomery, stood on the side of the company against the black citizens, and the leader who stood on the opposite side of the mayor was Reverend Kim. This Harvard doctor, who only talked about Jesus Christ, Socrates, Aristotle and Galileo, came forward and declared that this struggle was a struggle between justice and injustice. The city prosecutor accused Jin, and the judge found him guilty and fined him $65,438+0,000 yuan. Now, the fighting spirit of black people has been strengthened, and "strike riding" has persisted. Pastor King also organized more than 200 talented private cars to solve the problem of inconvenient travel for blacks. The mayor declared King's behavior illegal and arrested him. The "strike" activity was in full swing and the case was transferred to the state court. At this time, the Federal Supreme Court declared that racial discrimination was not allowed in public transportation. Reverend King was immediately free, and both the car company and the mayor had to bow to the black people. The boycott lasted 38 1 day. After the victory of the struggle, Pastor Jin went by car and found a seat in the front row. He said, "This trip is really enjoyable." The obscure 27-year-old black priest Martin Luther King Jr. has become a national celebrity. From 65438 to 0957, Reverend King was elected as the president of the Southern Christian Leaders' Congress and became an outstanding leader in the black civil rights struggle. He not only led the anti-racial discrimination law movement in the south, but also exposed, criticized and struggled against the de facto racial discrimination in the north.
1960 Reverend Kim was imprisoned again because he actively participated in and led the new measures against racial discrimination in many parts of the United States this year-black people "sit in isolated restaurants", "study in libraries", "watch in cinemas" and "bathe in white beaches" ... Kim led 5/kloc-0 people to fast food restaurants in Atlanta. 1963 was arrested and imprisoned for leading the anti-racial discrimination movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham was called "the most completely segregated city in America" by Martin Luther King. Birmingham police chief Connor has been brutally persecuting blacks by means of terror for 23 years. Martin Luther King was determined to face the bull and show it by "sitting" and marching. The violent police chief used police dogs and high-pressure faucets to deal with black demonstrators. 1On May 4th, 963, newspapers all over the world published a photo of a giant dog pouncing on a black woman, and human conscience was torn. However, the black protests did not stop, and turned to a more intense direction, forcing the federal government and President Kennedy to intervene. Thanks to Kennedy's direct intervention, Reverend King was set free. The struggle of black people is like the waves of the sea, wave after wave. 1On August 28th, 963, Pastor King, together with other leaders of the civil rights movement, launched and led 200,000 people to March peacefully to Washington. Pastor King delivered a famous speech "I have a dream" in front of Lincoln Memorial:
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"I have a dream that one day, this country will wake up and truly realize its motto:' We hold these truths to be self-evident: all men are created equal.' "I have a dream that one day at the Red Pass in Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will sit down together like brothers.
"I have a dream that one day, even Mississippi, a place where justice disappears, oppression prevails and people suffocate, will become an oasis of freedom and justice.
"I have a dream that one day my four children will live in a country where they will no longer be judged by their skin color but by their character ..."
Pastor King ended his speech full of affection and yearning with an old black hymn: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God, we are free at last! " This is exactly the poem engraved on his tombstone five years later.
Pastor King 1964 won the Nobel Peace Prize because his struggle for black people's rights by peaceful protest and demonstration won more and more extensive support in the United States and won some significant legal achievements. Reverend King led the "Free March" from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, and won the right of black people to vote fairly. 1966 led a protest against the de facto segregation of schools in Chicago and the poor living conditions in slums. 1967 actively participated in the mass movement against the us-Vietnam war. In a public speech on April 4th, 1967, he called on young Americans to refuse to perform military service, and asked young priests to join the ranks of refusing to perform military service.
1968 is the last year that Pastor Jin lived on this planet. In April this year, Kim went to Memphis to support the city 1300 garbage pickers (mostly black), who have been on strike for two months. On the evening of April 4, when he was talking with several people outside the hotel room, a gunshot came from an apartment across the street and the bullet entered Kim's neck. The black priest and civil rights fighter who advocated non-violence collapsed in the face of violence. The death of a non-violent hero caused unprecedented violence in the United States. 168 towns in the United States were destroyed by black riots, 7 1 1 arson incidents in Washington, 2600 arson incidents nationwide, 2 1270 people were injured and 2600 people were arrested. In order to calm the anger of black people, President Johnson ordered all federal buildings to fly at half mast, which was an unprecedented respect for a black person. On the day of the funeral, two mules pulled an old rural scooter to transport Pastor Jin's coffin to the cemetery, and 654.38 million people lined the streets to see Pastor Jin off for the last time.
The murderer James Ray is a racist with a bad record. He was sentenced many times for criminal offences. He just escaped from Mississippi State Prison to Memphis, and after killing, he fled to Europe. He was arrested at London Heathrow Airport on June 8th and sentenced to 99 years' imprisonment.
Reverend Martin Luther King always adhered to the principle of non-violence before his death. When young black people became more and more intolerant of racial discrimination, he was ridiculed by radical black leaders as "Uncle Tom"-a typical slave who resigned. A group of young black leaders who advocate gun to gun and violence to violence, such as Stokely Carmichael, Willie Rick and Rapp Brown. Their slogan is "black people have power" and "all power belongs to black people"; A few of the fiercest black people organized the "Black Panther Party", which quickly disintegrated because it was divorced from the American people and American social reality. Over the past 25 years, historical development has proved that the form of non-violence advocated by Reverend King is more acceptable to people from all walks of life in the United States. At present, neither objective conditions nor subjective conditions can destroy the deep-rooted racism in American society through violent revolution, which is a long and gradual process and requires the joint efforts of the whole society.
Eight years after the death of Reverend King/KLOC-0, the United States government designated his birth date of 65438+1October 20th as a national holiday in the United States, and the United Nations also designated this day as one of the United Nations Memorial Days.