Category: American Ideals

Introduction

Martin Luther king was a leader of civil right movement so that people can get freedom and be treated equally. He also fought racism against African- American ,violence and also showing love as politics. The methods or techniques is to show people the picture of a better future and were all humans are equal. What he used to show his strategies was explaining nonviolence strategy, the inside and outside strategy, revolution values strategy, love as politics, the beloved community, corporate power and empower.

Martin’s aim was to search about universal value and strategic understanding of appropriate for all regardless of religious, belief and identity or political difference. As an African American he learned many sources that was teaching about black history and Christianity and also the the revolution and also revolutionary strategy that was first accomplished in India. He was the biggest follower of Mahat Ghandi he learned a lot from him about non violence and bringing peace to the nation. He was learning a lot from all the other countries from Ireland to South Africa and that gave strength to empower and show a picture that shows peace and nonviolence to his people of the civil right movement and that increased hi strength into the creativity. Out of this king fashioned a political strategy or technique based on nonviolence, love, the beloved community and etc.

Nonviolence strategy

Martin Luther king and the civil right movement came up with the primary strategic approach and that was nonviolence strategy. The action was to seek to create such crisis and establish such creative tension that community refused to negotiate so that they can confront the issue of violence around the community and people .The constructive of nonviolence was necessarily for growth in the community and the purpose was to make violence to stop in the US because thousands of people ended up in jail and some into graves. Martin Luther king placed the plan of this into inside/ outside strategy , the nature of this plan was more about negotiations and also being able to work together with the white brothers.

The inside and outside strategy

The inside and outside strategy it was a way of coming up with the strategy that will set the civil movement and some political positions to negotiate about the things that the African American didn’t completely agree with. It was a way to resolve confusion and false choice that divide the nation and waste energy into fighting without clear reasons. Martin Luther created it for people to know how to negotiate and settle the problem down and come to a solution. The inside and outside strategy was it was a way to come to an understanding that how disparate current of the labour and social movement could converge making the whole greater than the sum of the other part. In particular the inside and outside movement appreciate that negotiations of power holders are weak without direct pressure. The inside and outside was useful when the was mass movements, big tent political parties and revolutions. The civil right movement strategy was made to bring peace and it will not be based on anger, outrage or criticism but it would be based upon love and nonviolence. The civil right movement was about helping to connect disruptive and militant action with universal values of love. Martin Luther king stated and said “The purpose of direct-action program is to path that will open door to negotiation.

Love as politics

Martin Luther king introduced love as politics because he wanted to tell the whites that they must understand that nonviolence is a weapon full of love, it is a sword that heals. The nonviolent program has it’s object are not about to create tension but the surfacing of tension, it does not mean the feelings people associate with friendship or romance and certainly does not mean your enemy . The love that motivated the movement was creative , good will to all people. According to Martin Luther king’s understanding and approach it was understanding of solidarity enlighten and self interest based on mutuality. In martin Luther king’s view he would picture it as one injury to one is an injury to all. The civil rights movement gave love to its enemies in the non violent force. Marches , Boycotts , strikes was a way of showing love because it is non violent in he service of freedom and democracy.

The beloved community

The community was made to archive economic and social justice by reaching love and nonviolence it was not created for conflict. It was a rhetorical evoked world based on community values of mutual aid and based on cooperation , the recognition of independence, shared responsibilities and respect freely and give. This was created to show human kind to people and what is human kind the strategy it is even used even this day the African American still live up to it .

The revolution and revolutionary strategy

Martin Luther king succeeded in creating the popular revolutionary strategy or vision while so many others failed to because he was awake to the revolution and revolutionary practice. He survived this because he was true to his words and promising his people that peace will come and everything will fall into place. This came as a form of Christian love and ghandhian non violence struggle, the civil right movement made nonviolence to emerge as the technique of the movement while love while love stood up as the regulating ideal . martin Luther king considered nonviolence as the a powerful and as superior strategy because it was able to transform people and their relationship with each other and it was able to transform individual and group consciousness as difficult as it is but was able to work for people to be able to negotiate and come to an understanding, organising project and community meeting was also rebuilding the community and also motivating people new leaders in to play.

It is evident that African American still up Martin Luther king’s technique or strategies of civil rights movement, because they still live up to celebrate his day after his death they still put him in posters and some of the street in USA are named after him to show that he did an impact in America he played a big role in trying to fight for freedom but in a more civil way by bringing peace and showing his people and congregation his technique that that violence is not a solution but negotiation and the non violence is the way out. He taught his people that doing strikes and boycotts cannot mean harm but to show love to the enemies in order to get freedom.

Martin Luther king day the 20th January is the day to honour king and what he did for African American. Most of the pictures and ideas that he used are still used today there are plenty of organisations that are open just to honour and celebrate his work and the civil right movement and most of the they send a message to people by teaching them about human kind and also showing them human kind that he has spoken about in the 1960 this people are trying to tell the present and the future generation about martin Luther king’s wisdom about showing love and also his teaching about nonviolence.

In the streets of America there are billboards showing martin Luther king and some of his quotes they are trying to show people that king was fighting for their freedom and was trying to tell that nothing can be solved through violence but what it can bring it will be pain and sorrow to the nation and most of his pictures show that if you work together as nation you have the power to conquer and win the battle that you are facing regardless of what you are doing don’t do it with violence but try to negotiate so that you can bring about peace. Martin Luther king groomed and made the future leaders of today even though he died early but many of them are looking up to him including the known former president of the USA president Barack Obama they still up to his words and his doings and teachings. Many people in MLK day volunteer to participate in any programme, this day was started by Harris Wafford and Atlanta men John Robert Lewis who was one of the members in civil right movement and the made the day to turn into a holiday and people to participate.

CONCLUSION

All over the world they know about martin luther king and alla the leaders are looking up to him even though he is no longer here but they are strill trying to live up to his strategies and also trying to live up to him because they are searching his techniques to rule the nation.

Reference

1. Testament of hope (martin Luther king),edited by James Washington(29may2003)
2. Information resource centre US embassy Nigeria or http://nigeria.usembassy
3. Rings to our freedom India university press
4. WWW. The guardian.com
5. https://be freedom.co
6. Ring out to freedom, India university press , Fredrick Sunnemark, February 2004 or http://iupress.India.edu
7. Photography : Mark Humphrey , Gregory X wears a hirt to show celebration of Martin Luther king’s day
8. http://nigeria.usembassy/
9. http://iupress.india.edu/

Before Martin Luther King Junior, the African American civil rights movement was just another injust idea in the U.S. Segregation was the practice of requiring different housing, education, and other services for people of color. It was made law several times in the 18th and 19th century America. At the time in 1862 President Lincoln entertained the idea of opening channels for colonization in ex-slave countries such as Liberia and Haiti with $600,000 to help. “The first steps toward official segregation came in the form of “Black codes.” These were laws passed throughout the South starting around 1865, that dictated most aspects of black peoples’ lives, including where they could work and live. The codes also ensured black people’s availability for cheap labor after slavery was abolished.” states in the article the article “Segregation in the United States” from the history.com editors. Soon after segregation was an official policy enforced by Southern laws called the “Jim Crow laws” named after a disparaging term for black people. Soon after everything began to be segregated such as schools, jails, public parks, cemeteries, residential homes, and more. Fassforward to early june 1966 Martin Luther King jr. an American Christian Minister and Civil Rights activist was a rising name in America at the time In efforts of being a major pillar and leader in America he formed a group called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “Dr. King and his “Southern Christian Leadership Conference” shifted northward to Chicago and the two other most influential activist groups, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), had installed new, little-known leaders: Floyd McKissick and Stokely Carmichael.” said from the article “ The Civil Rights movement before and after Martin Luther King Jr. The build up of civil injustice towards colored people was the trigger to plot out a mass march for the whole world to see ultimitaly in the end. A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin continues to organize around the idea of a mass march on Washington. They envisioned several large marches during the 1940’s but they were called off.

Washington D.C August 28th, 1963 marked the date of the famous March on Washington and the “I Have A Dream Speech.” The speech was a defining moment in the civil rights movement and among one of the most iconic speeches in American History. Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation which freed millions of slaves in 1863. Dr. King said “ one hundred years later, the negro still is not free”. The march was organized by the ‘Big Six’ leaders of the civil rights movement: A. Philip Randolph, Whitney M. Young Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, Roy Wilkins and John Lewis. Bayard Rustin was chief organizer of the march. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil rights of African Americans. Observers estimated around 75-80% of the marchers were black proving the sense of community and importance at this moment in time. The march was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history. This march is credited to helping pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and preceded the Selma Voting Movement which led to the passage of the Voting rights in 1965. Although African Americans who were once slaves had been legally freed from slavery, elevated to the status of citizens and the men given the right voting rights at the end of the American Civil War, many continued to face social, economic, and political repression over the years into the 1960’s.

The March on Washington was obviously meant to raise awareness on civil injustice towards black African Americans but it was much bigger than that. Dr. King used peaceful protesting as a form of fighting this and this is what you could say was a conclusion to the movement. The march was successful in pressuring the administration to proceed with a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress . “The threat of 100,000 marchers in Washington, D.C., pushed President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, which mandated the formation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission to investigate racial discrimination charges against defense firms. In response, Randolph cancelled plans for the march” coming from the article “March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom” of Stanford University. The rising tide of civil rights agitation greatly influenced national opinion and resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guaranteeing equal voting rights, outlawing discrimination in restaurants, theatres, and other public accommodations involved in intersate commerce, and encouraging school desegregation. The National Association for the Advancement the Color people (NAACP), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) put aside their differences and came together for the march. Many white and black people also came together in urgency for the change in the nation. The March on Washington helped create an understanding of the racial and economical injustice in the America at the time. “With activist from New York, The Mississippi Delta, or Cambridge, Md all describing their encounters with police brutality, labor descrimination, or house deterioration it become very difficult to cast racial segregation as an exclusively southern problem.” Stated by John Hopkins History professor Nathan Connolly. “At the start of the 1960s, unemployment was not the principal economic problem facing black Americans; underemployment was. In New Orleans, Miami, and other Southern cities, for instance, African-Americans principally occupied unskilled, menial, and servile positions in agriculture or domestic work, sometimes in proportions in excess of 80 percent” (Connolly). At the start of the 1960’s, unemployment was not the principal in economic problem facing black Americans. In big cities down south like Miami and New Orleans black Americans had jobs that required no skill, menial, and hard labor like. The march and the people that attended insisted demanding an increase in minimum wage, increased protections against unlawful terminations, require government programs for training, and provide retirement and health benefits. These demands strived for fair employment laws as well as affirmative action. The march on Washington also gave. The Kennedy administration attention in that fact that African Americans grievances emerged from urban to rural underemployment. “ In fact, Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, in 1964, was able, to claim that the employment programs of the Great Society were an extension of the civil rights agenda without making any specific reference to race or African-Americans largely because the 1963 march had already reasserted the link between civil rights and economic rights”(Connolly). In the end, The March on Washington brought much attention to the poor laws the were in place to discriminate black Americans at the time. The march triggered Ideas not only for Dr. King but for many other smaller names to do something about the injustice that was going on in America. The speech inspired people to fight whether it was physically, vocally ,or even silently. The speech also made it clear to white Americans that this was a problem and that nothing will stop until the black americans were proven equal as human beings the way it should have started off as. Even today there is so much racism in the world but no one wants to bring it to attention, everyone just wants to brush it off like it’s not a problem. Racism today comes in forms of verbal abuse, police brutality, racial descrimination, and too many more to count. Today to fight this people are peacefully and sometimes violently protesting in major cities and areas where the majority of the population is African American to feel that support and strength in numbers. A football player by the name of Colin Kaepernick on september 1rst, 2016 took a knee during the national anthem protesting police brutality. This became a natural thing for him to do and it influenced athletes around the world to take a stand in what they believe in. “San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick says he refused to stand during the national anthem Friday because of his views on the country’s treatment of racial minorities.“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Mediaafter Friday’s game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder”-Nick Wagner of the Espn Staff. “Numerous high-profile athletes have spoken out about civil rights issues in the wake of gun violence throughout the United States. In July, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul opened the ESPYS with a call for social change and an end to violence, and WNBA players wore warm-up shirts to show solidarity after shootings in Minnesota and Baton Rouge, Louisiana” (Wagner).

As you can see The March on Washington was just a start to the rise of social justice in the U.S. The Colin Karpernick act is just a more modern day example. Injustice against colored people has always been a problem in America dating back to Native Americans. People never really knew when to take a stand because they always felt powerless and outnumbered. Even during the march a quarter million people attended in support of the cause listening to the speech. In the end, Dr. King’s inspirational speech triggered the rise of social and economical justice between black Americans and white people. Even though Dr. Kings life was cut short his reign still lives till today inspiring many young people of color to take action against people who discriminate and oppress them. His fight will always be remembered and go down in history as one of the most monumental movements in the world.

Works Cited

1. Garrow, David J. “The Civil Rights Movement before and after Martin Luther King, Jr.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Feb. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-civil-rights-movement-before-and-after-martin-luther-king-jr/2014/02/07/11493318-8383-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html.
2. History.com Editors. “Segregation in the United States.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 28 Nov. 2018, www.history.com/topics/black-history/segregation-united-states.
3. “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, 30 May 2019, kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/march-washington-jobs-and-freedom.
4. TheUndefeated. “Colin Kaepernick Protests Anthem over Treatment of Minorities.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 3 Sept. 2016, theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick-protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/.
5. report, Hub staff. “JHU History Professor Discusses the Significance of the March on Washington.” The Hub, 26 Aug. 2013, hub.jhu.edu/2013/08/26/march-on-washington-economic-justice/.

Religion played a vital role in shaping human history in providing various development in social, economic and communal structures, shaping cultures and civilization. Since the early Mesopotamians civilization to the current age, Religion became a center thought to shape any society and many important events happened in mankind’s history. Among them, Roman Catholicism is a good example that explains the influence of Christianity for the next 20 centuries in various parts of the world. Unlike Protestants, Roman Catholic believes in intellectual ascent, meaning the highest authority in Roman Catholicism is also the most intellectual person (Britannica). That verifies one thing that Pope is the most educated and applicable authority in the church which influenced the process of the election based on credentials. This process of election defines the political system, presenting people selected based on merits instead of lineage, creed or anything else. Pope Francis, the highest authority in Roman Catholic has studied theology and philosophy before joining the cardinals.

Moreover, the preaching mission for love of humanity became a center of peace symbol in the late 17th and 18th centuries, describing the human factor of Roman Catholicism. It helped in shaping the peaceful, forgiveness and moral ethics needed to construct a developed society, creating a civilization based on such merits. Renaissance, Spanish Inquisitions, and Protestants led to a common belief of spreading the peaceful scriptures of the bible. Moreover, in the 13th century, the spiritual reforms in Roman Catholicism resulted in the formation of universities and the progression of science, technology, and education in the Byzantine Empire. However, the decline started after the Church involved too much in the scientific discoveries by declaring it “blasphemous” and creating conflicts that resulted in the Holy wars in Europe. However, in Christian faith, another prominent figure appeared and known as the father of Protestantism, (Martin Luther King). Martin Luther King was a critique of hardliner Catholicism involving ideals of keeping religion as a personal relationship with God (Margerison). This liberal thought created a massive influence around Europe, influencing various structures of society.

Luther’s declaration of 1517 shaped Christianity towards educational and economic transitions resulting in creating influential innovation. This innovation impacted the political, social and religious way of thinking, influencing secularism in Christianity. That led to more freedom of expression, less social differences, rejecting imperialism and introducing democracy (Margerison). The role of men came as monks as well nuns devoted their lives in helping the poor, needy and involved in humanitarian efforts. As Protestantism, does not believe in celibacy or being selected as God’s divine rule, rather it believes in a simple act of kindness. Their secular principles helped information of great civilization including the modern west, keeping religion as spiritual guidance on a social basis, rather political or scientific. Great Britain, Germany, France, America all benefited from Protestantism, influencing their legal as well as political system towards society rather than religion. Religion became a personal choice for humans, yet the social aspect of religion helped in creating some humane laws.

That was the common belief Martin Luther King always wanted and the result was so influential that it resulted in forming some of the most progressive societies against other monotheistic religions like Islam or Judaism. Women and Men participated in the cause by preaching the love for God and Jesus through helping people, creating peace and a better society to live in. Nuns usually participated as medical nurses after wars (for example civil war, French revolution and others) with a mission to spread Protestantism through actions. Martin Luther King shaped a new face of Christianity through actions instead of selection which helped in influencing morality and virtues in a society.

Works Cited

1. Britannica. “Roman Catholicism.” Britannica, 6 Jan. 2009, http://libproxy.wcjc.cc.tx.us/login?url=https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/1973284800?accountid=7145.
2. Margerison, Charles. “GREAT THINKERS: Martin Luther 1483-1546.” Training Journal, 2005.

As leaders of British Women’s Suffrage Movement and American Civil Rights Movement respectively, both Emmeline Pankhurst and Martin Luther King Jr. played a significant role. Due to different historical backgrounds and personal experiences, differences occurred while similarities also existed between them when they were fighting for rights. Considering the methods they used and the influences they had in the process of the movements, we believe that Martin Luther King Jr. was a more effective leader.

Both Emmeline and King targeted at fighting for the rights of the minor groups they were in. However, Emmeline had a specific goal of gaining women’s suffrage while King had a broader goal to achieve desegregation for the African Americans. In Britain, women started appealing for suffrage as they realized that they’d paid the same tax while they didn’t have the same voting rights as men. According to Purvis, Emmeline was convinced that gaining voting rights in parliament was decisive for women to be equally treated (Purvis, 2003). The Black, on the other hand, were completely segregated from the White after the implementation of Jim Crow. Thus, unlike Emmeline, King had to fight for rights for the black community from basic ones like equally using the public transportation to higher ones like having equal voting rights.

When they first participated in the two movements, both Emmeline and King used non-violent methods. However, after years of fruitless peaceful struggle, Emmeline believed that women need to “find new ways of breathing life into women’s suffrage campaign” (Purvis, 2013). As a result, she adopted “the new militant tactics” her daughter Christabel “had initialed” (Purvis, 2003).

With the new method, the Suffrage movement was moved forward. Millicent Fawcett (1906) said that the Suffragettes’ achievements in one year were more than ours in 12 years. Whereas King insisted on nonviolence. The article of Constitutional Rights Foundation pointed out that when King heard the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he “saw immediately the similarity with the teachings of Jesus Christ” and after he studied what Gandhi had done, he felt it possible to use nonviolence through the campaigns (2017). Believing that using violence would lead to “a dead end” and “show the weakness of the black community” (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2017), King never changed his principle, and under his leadership, nonviolence made its way through several big campaigns such as Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Birmingham Campaign.

Since both Emmeline and King were fighting for rights of the minority and challenging the existing regulations, it was inevitable that they would violate some laws, being sentenced to prison during the process of the two movements. But the reasons for their imprisonment were quite different. With regard to Emmeline, she was arrested for her aggressive behaviors. According to Purvis, she “led a deputation to parliament,” and then “she was arrested and charged with obstruction” (2003). Besides, She also smashed the windows and set the fire. Nevertheless, King was arrested for his nonviolent demonstrations and participation in desegregation movements such as his involvement in the Birmingham campaign.

Both Emmeline and King made a good use of media. As newspaper has been widely used all the time, both Emmeline and King took advantage of it to expand publicity. While during the Civil Rights Movement, because “as early as 1958, over 83% of American households owned television sets” (Stirling and Kittross, cited in Morris 1999), television helped King to attract more public attention and also encouraged more African Americans to take part in the civil rights movement.

Emmeline died in the age of 69 and King died in the age of 39. To a large extent, their death were both influenced by the two movements. Emmeline died of illness resulted from years of struggles. She suffered a lot of physical destruction during Women Suffrage Movement such as hunger strike and force-feeding. What’s more, Purvis (2003) pointed out that Emmeline’s health exacerbated right after her daughter’s, Sylvia’s scandal which completely prevented her from entering Parliament. While as for King, his success in this movement aroused much resentment from some white people. As a result, he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel after a nonviolent movement in Memphis in 1968.

If we only focus on the results of the two movements, it was clear that Emmeline was more effective because she did achieve her goal to win the voting rights for women, but King didn’t achieve his aim of breaking segregation for black people. However, if we consider their leadership during the process of the two movements, we think that King was a more effective leader. Emmeline chose to use violence to fight for their rights. It’s a fact that their militant behaviors did attract much publicity. But meanwhile they brought many critics on female image. Actually, women’s contribution to the WWⅠaccounted more for their final success. Yet King did achieve substantial victory and bring more positive influence with his nonviolent method. For example, the Constitutional Rights Foundation (2017) stated in their report that the Birmingham movement “spurred President Kennedy (and later President Lyndon Johnson) to push for the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act”. In addition, Morris (1999) stated that King’s leadership attracted much international attention on the Civil Rights Movement.

In order to gain the voting rights for women, Emmeline Pankhurst adopted violent methods and meantime fully utilized newspaper to expand publicity. With the aim of achieving equality for black people, Martin Luther King Jr. stuck to nonviolent methods, and used newspaper as well as television to attract public attention and appeal more black people to get involved in this movement. They were both successful leaders, both of whom gave much momentum to these two movements and sacrificed a lot. King presented the later generations the feasibility of peaceful methods which won not only great success, but also respect and a long-lasting influence.

References

1. Constitutional Rights Foundation (2017). Martin Luther King and the Philosophy of Nonviolence. Bill of Rights in Action, [online] Volume 32(4), p.1-5. Available at: https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-Action/archives [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].
2. Fawcett, M. (1906) in resource from Anna.
3. Morris, A. (1999). A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: Political and Intellectual Landmarks. Annu. Rev. Social. 25, pp. 517-539.
4. Purvis, J. (2003). Emmeline Pankhurst: a biographical interpretation. Women’s History Review, 12(1), pp. 73-102.

When you ask someone who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr? They will more than likely say James Earl Ray. However, if you looked from an unbiased stand point and open you mind to the other possibilities you could end up with the same conclusion as I did. I picked the conspiracy theory over MLK’s death because it’s shocking how unaware we are of it. One of my learning take-aways was that the US government wanted MLK to be killed because he had thousands of followers and the government feared that power of his. Learning about the truth of Martin Luther Kings Juniors death will make a difference because first off nobody knows the truth it’s been covered, and our history books fail to educate us on it. Second, it can make you think differently of our own government and how shady it is. Thirdly, to expand your mind on different possibilities that could happen.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” on August 28, 1963. It was watched live on television by over 250,000 people and is ranked the #1 American speech of the 20th Century. King was a role model; the voice for the people. It’s hard to think he was murdered in a conspiracy really freaks people, but if you look at the facts and in an unbiased way it may change your outlook. Between the time of his “I have a dream” speech and April 4, 1968 the day he killed a lot happened during those five years that nobody knows about. During, those five years the media began to turn on him and rumors were being spread. His crowds and followers started shrinking in numbers. It seems all those accusations were to harm his reputation. Martin Luther King is known as a Civil rights leader who died by some racist person. However, in other countries he known for standing up to the government and corruption that is involved in it.

Things for King didn’t start getting bad until he began speaking about the American Violence and the violence that our own government puts out into the world like: war, corruption, and poverty. King started questioning the amount money we were spending on war. President Johnson called for a war on poverty, but then is engaged on war in Vietnam. King then stood up against Vietnam and the president and the white house all came out against him. That’s when King started speaking out against the corruption in the government, and then all the rumors and liberal media started coming after him. His followers’ numbers got smaller. The government did not like how King was going after the foreign policy and not just staying in the civil rights lane. MLK was being blackmail by the government. Saying they had audio recordings that were him and proof of he was having an affair. King was just a target for the FBI. The FBI has admitted to wiretapping him. FBI Domestic Intelligence Chief Willian Sullivan wrote this in a memo two days after Kings speech “I have a dream,” “We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security (Andrew Prokop.2018)” That is when the harassment by the FBI began for Martin. At one point a letter was sent to Kings house that his wife opened. King and his whole team believe the letter was written by the FBI. The letter is written like it came from one of his black supports that turned against him. In the letter it’s threatened him and said that he must kill himself and that he has 34 days to do so, or they (the FBI) will kill him. The government was so afraid of him that J Edgar Hoover listed him as the most dangerous man in American (Federal Bureau of Investigation). Martin Luther King a man who inspired thousands of people. Dangerous by spreading the truth of government? It’s interesting when people speak out against things like this and get assassinated like: JFK, Gandhi, and John Lennon for example. I wonder how many people knew that Martin Luther King was an enemy to the State at one point. Obviously, Hoover was afraid, and the Kennedy brothers were also afraid him. They were afraid that the Communist Party had infiltrated his Civil rights movement and they were terrified of communism. So, on April 4, 1967 King gave a speech exactly one year till his death and that speech was titled “Beyond Vietnam time to break silence.” I believe that speech was the whole triggering point for the assassination. He constantly warned how we were going to lose our democracy if we did not solve three things: racism, poverty, and militarism.

When Martin Luther King was shot; he was in Memphis, Tennessee. He was there to help protest with the sanitation workers who were currently on strike. He was working on his last project he ever worked on it was the poor people campaign. While he was in Memphis, Tennessee he was staying at a motel called the Lorraine and that is where he was murdered. One of the last calls he made before he died was to his church. He was going to be giving a sermon and wanted to tell them what is was about. His last sermon was named “Why America may go to hell.” He planned to touch more on militarism, racism, and poverty in the country, and how the government wasn’t doing nearly enough to help its people. So, April 4th of 1968 in the evening Martin Luther King was standing out on the balcony of his motel. This is where he was shot he was shot in the cheek into his jaw through his neck it severed his spinal cord and stopped at about his shoulder blade. When the shot happened, people pointed where the shot originated Bessie Brewer is rooming house about 200 feet away. Kings friend and fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy was with him and held his head to help keep him possibly alive. There are many reports that he was still alive even when he got to the hospital (History.com Editors. 2018). He was taken to St. Joseph’s where they attempted emergency surgery but was sadly pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. at 39 years old. Immediately, people start pointing fingers at Law Enforcement because there were all ready over three police cars each with three police officers in them circling the area. The Law Enforcement thought Kings team was going to start riot at the Lorraine motel. Martins team was confused on how they didn’t see anyone when King was shot.

The impact the Martin Luther King’s death created was insane. America went wild. There were major riots, outbreaks of looting, and arson. People were going nuts. It all happened in over 100 cities in the country and there was so much property damage and violence. People were so angry which Martin Luther King would not have wanted that because he was all about a nonviolent protest he took a lot of his inspiration from Gandhi. An additional 43 men and women were killed in riots approximately 3,500 were injured and 27,000 people were arrested. The government had to bring in 58,000 National Guardsmen and army troops to help with all the chaos because people were that angry. There was an alpha 184 Special Forces team in Memphis on the day and no one knows what they were doing there (Gerald Posner. The Truth about Memphis). The main that apparently killed Martin Luther King was named James Earl Ray. Everybody wanted a single assassin a racist that would then say James Earl Ray did, and we can go on about our business. James did have criminal record his first conviction was in California and that was in 1949. His second conviction was in 1952 he served two years for armed robbery of a taxi driver in Illinois. In 1955 he was convicted a mail fraud after stealing money orders in Missouri. He was again convicted of an armed robbery of stealing 120 bucks at St. Louis Kroger store in 1959. He escaped from prison but wasn’t arrested until June 8th this happened April 4th, so over two months later they finally arrested James Earl Ray. Who said he was innocent. There fingerprints on binoculars in the room and a rifle. However, there have been misuse of fingerprints and fraud in pass court cases (forensic colleges). Ray would not confess to this crime he maintained that he was innocent. It wasn’t until March 10th of 1969 that finally confessed in a plea and this was called an Alford plea. An Alford plea mean even if you are not actually guilty and you were pristinely innocent you may plead guilty to the charge if you think that doing so is in your best interest under all the circumstances as you know them to be and you’re doing so freely understanding and intelligently. Till the day James Earl Ray died he maintained that he did not have anything to do with the assassination. So many people don’t know this, but Coretta Scott King and her family believed that this was FBI. They believed that Ray was not guilty, and they fought for a long time to prove that he was not the one who assassinated King. On March 27th, 1997 Dexter King Visits Ray at a prison hospital in Nashville Tennessee. Dexter askes ray if he killed his father. James Earl Ray responds with a simple, “No. No I didn’t.” Dexter offered Ray is families support to help prove his innocents. There was a real trail that happened, and it was a wrongful death lawsuit from the King family against Mr. Jowers and co-conspirators. Mr. Jowers was the man that ran the restaurant across the street called James, and Judge Joe Brown made an amazing explanation for why he believes the gun could not have been a gun that was used by James Earl Ray. The thing that the state relied upon was the rifle but modern scientific methodology excluded that rifle from being the murder weapon the bullet they pull out a king’s body has a rate of rifling twist of one turn in every eleven and a quarter inch the rifle that Ray had had a rate of rifling twist of one turn in every ten inches in a bad manufacturing defect that is not apparent on the death slope. One thing that is that’s interesting is if you look at the picture when King was killed they were pointing in the opposite direction from where the government says the bullets came from. Nineteen years ago, the only trial ever held concerning the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. was concluded in a civil trial in 1999 a jury found the US government agencies along with others guilty of assassinating MLK in Memphis in 1968. After hearing from 70 witnesses including Loyd Jowers who assisted the sniper and owned Jim’s grill the jury took less than an hour to decide that one government agencies were responsible for the murder of MLK. Two, James Earl Ray the man we’ve always been told pulled the trigger had nothing to do with it. Loyd Jowers said he received $100,000 from a Memphis produce merchant, Frank Liberto, to arrange Dr. Kings murder. Mr. Liberto had died by the time of the interview, in which Mr. Jowers said that he had hired the assassin and that is was not Mr. Ray (The Associated Press. 2000).

After learning more about this conspiracy theory I don’t really know who killed Martin Luther King jr. However, I believe it was not James Earl Ray. He died in prison and until the day he died he maintained that did not kill King. Ray would have been an easy target to blame because he had so much criminal record and history to make it more believable. The true story of Kings assassination has never been told to us I believe. We basically get half-truths told to us about pretty much everything. How untrue our history books can be, and the version we get from the media. The media is the biggest problem we have it’s our biggest issue because people will believe the media wholeheartedly. That was Martin Luther King’s problem the media turned on him and that ruined his reputation from him. I find this conspiracy theory interesting because it has facts and proof of it. Although, so many people are unaware of the truth of it. This is just a theory. A theory proven in court, however.

Corruption in legislative issues is the usage of sanctioned controls by government specialists for silly private increment maltreatment of government control for various purposes, for instance, concealment of political enemies and general police mercilessness is in like manner seen as political debasement. Martin Luther King expressed that debasement and shamefulness will never be changed by concealing them however by conveying them to the light and going up against them with the intensity of affection. In Nigeria Tanure Ojaide saw that Africans were offered specialist to manage and they saw a chance to abuse the individuals who wronged them, mightily take from the general population who had more than them for the endorsement from the British rulers.

Martin Luther King pushed for nonviolent resistance student protests owing this to his staunch standards by the African American Baptist church, his growing encounters in the place where he grew up Atlanta, his philosophical examinations, his abilities of religious and political authority, and his broad system of contacts in the harmony and social equity developments of his time. He met with the students’ board of trustees and pioneers to talk about dissent in Atlanta. Tanure Ojaide creator of The Activist uncovered inappropriate behavior of female understudies by their addresses like Professor Don Odili with an understudy at Moonshine Hotel.

From the adoration love law and civil disobedience book of Martin Luther King we discover that the exploited balanced themselves to abuse, separation or isolation. Another way the exploited needed to ascend against the oppressor utilizing physical brutality. From Ojaide’s book the Activist we get familiar about how Nigerians were affected by the multinational oil companies, because they were never concerned with their environment. It would devastate their plants and creatures and spill ashore and annihilate the land which individuals cultivated to get their nourishment from.

As referred to from adoration love law and civil disobedience of Martin Luther King a transformation of qualities drives us to addressing equity and reasonableness of approaches and laws. A genuine unrest will open our eyes to see the incredible contrast of riches division between destitution strike and the well off. Unrest will enable us to perceive how enormous financial specialist industrialist use the assets of different nations for their very own benefit and won’t be worried about the social improvement of the general public they harvest their benefits from. The Activists book instructs that Ojaide considered it to be his obligation to the Nigerian individuals, to uncover, recreate, and discredit the facts of ecological corruption in the Niger Delta district of Nigeria.

From Martin Luther King book’s adoration love law and civil disobedience he had the chance to venture out to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s nation India where he took in the peacefulness standard in his activism. He had likewise been presented to books that Gandhi composed which said that an individual should look for reality and love while opposing peacefully to what he thought was wrong. From the Activist book of Tanure Ojaide we discover that he exploited his wonderful aptitudes to address the outrages that the worldwide oil collaboration made. The ecological worries that the oil organizations made was stressing to the Nigerian natives.

The U.S. Constitution establishes the equal treatment of people across all states, but forms of inequality – such as racism and discrimination – are still prevalent today. In spite of the on-going hardships, we’ve faced as a nation, Generation Z has the ability to use social media to address and directly combat such injustices. Martin Luther King Junior’s speech ‘I Have a Dream’ says: “This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing’’. America’s ideal of universal equality has been solely an ideal and nothing more; therefore, we must take a stand against injustices and unite together to turn this concept into reality.

The racial, social, and wealth-related inequities embedded within our nation’s history have adversely affected the opportunities for educational triumph for certain groups. However, the power of social media has helped bring such instances to light, prompting the education system to take some action against such changes. The concept of ‘separate and unequal’ still remains ongoing in the modern-day education system, as often minority students lack funding within their schools as compared to white majority counterparts. Today, the correlation between racial and socioeconomic status still encapsulates a major factor contributing to educational inequality. In the United States, schools with racial minority students as the majority population are primarily situated in underfunded/under resourced areas, in comparison to suburban, majority white areas. The disparities, including financial hardships, that have been embedded in minority students for generations hold a correlation to the reliance on student debt for these groups. Additionally, just recently, a Stanford-admit’s request for a scribe was rejected by the university, despite the fact that the assistance of a scribe was necessary for his work as a student with a neurodegenerative disorder. By gaining support through platforms like Instagram and Twitter, Stanford University complied to the student’s request. The inequalities related to other factors, including disabilities, are highlighted during a situation in which a student admitted to Stanford was rejected access to a scribe for necessary homework purposes, gained thousands of supporters across the Internet, and prompted Stanford University to finally give in. In addition to such injustices related to education, the bias against Asian-Americans in the college admissions process, inciting Generation Z to step up and spread awareness about this on social media. Following the lawsuit against Harvard University by Asian-American students claiming to have faced discrimination in their college admissions process, the Internet–users from Generation Z in particular has spoken out against such injustices in order to enact change within the biased system, including Alex Chen, a high school student at the time of stating the following in the article by Jay Caspian Kang, in which Alex claims: “I absolutely think that our generation’s willingness to discuss the hard topics of race and class and privilege will eventually lead to a satisfactory solution for everybody, even beyond college admissions”. Because factors including racial identity have been proven to determine a student’s academic advantage (or lack thereof), Generation Z has been working to take a stand against such prejudices.

Though Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects discrimination in the workplace based on a variety of factors, such issues are still prevalent in modern day careers. However, Generation Z consistently works to combat such prejudices through online activism and diversity-inclusion initiatives. In fact, according to a study, often white applicants are given more leverage when applying to jobs as opposed to minority applicants. Today, biases – from racial to gender-related partiality – are still inherent within the job application process. As evident by the trends displayed in studies regarding workplace discrimination, there often lies a correlation between racial background and job prospects during this procedure. However, in spite of this, there have been a multitude of actions taken by the activists of Generation Z to level the playing field for underrepresented minorities and women in the workplace. For instance, in an interview about her all-female coding program initiative, Karlie Kloss passionately expresses the need for girls to have increased access to programming opportunities and the ability to learn more about the field of technology itself. Thus, it remains evident that diversity-inclusion initiatives, such as Karlie Kloss’ Kode With Klossy coding bootcamp, have tackled the stigma for women who wish to pursue careers in the technology industry, specifically computer science. In addition, as a response to the increased activism for more diversity in the workplace, high-profile companies such as Google have been working to increase accessibility to opportunities for racial minorities interested in careers at their company. Such includes BOLD, devoted to encouraging racial minorities in the technology industry to explore career pathways in this area. According to the BOLD Internship Program listing on the Google Careers website, Google created this internship program to increase accessibility to underrepresented minorities in this field. Such initiatives are working to tackle the stigma associated with underrepresented groups in male- and white-dominated fields, such as technology.

Prejudice against racial groups, especially African Americans, have contributed to devastating incarceration rates within such communities. However, due to such tragedies, mass social media movements have spurred in efforts to bring awareness and enact change on the discrimination embedded within the system. For instance, in the murder of George Floyd has drastically shifted the way in which Americans and society as a whole view the world across social media. George Floyd’s unjust murder sparked a social media revolution amongst the nation, resulting in a wave of tweets demanding for peace, justice, and change within the systemic racism present in the criminal justice system. The difference in retribution for black protestors and white rioters is evident in the cruel approach to peaceful BLM protests in places such as Washington, Minneapolis, and Portland. However, when a mob of white rioters stormed Capitol Hill, they were treated with drastically less immediate retribution, if any, when compared to the amount of violent attacks black peaceful protesters faced in previous Blacks Lives Matter demonstrations. As a response to such instances, this resulted in an immediate unification across social media platforms amongst individuals who seek justice and demand change during this time of criminal injustices against black communities (JHTL). Amidst the numerous devastating tragedies in the criminal justice system, social media has enabled outsiders across the nation to gain more accurate insight on the full coverage of a story, as opposed to solely gathering information from media outlets that may exclude such vital details from occurrences such as the murder of Floyd.

Despite the inequalities that currently exist in modern society, our nation has undergone immense progress over the course of history that moves us a huge leap forward to achieving MLK’s dream of ‘universal equality’. However, prejudices in education, careers, and the criminal justice system still remain and continue to harm the lives of underrepresented minorities, women, and other groups. In order to work towards the unreached American ideal of universal equality, we must utilize the power of social media to leverage our efforts in developing a nation modelled closer to this goal.

What makes America particular from every single other nation is the rights that an American native has in America. American residents most likely have a larger number of rights than the natives from some other nations on the planet. The most significant right an American resident has is an opportunity, an opportunity that a native from no other nation on the globe has. The second and likely most significant idea that goes to my head when I consider America is the manner by which America is certainly the best nation in recent memory. Another positive part of this incredible nation is the manner by which wonderful it is, and how very much protected it is. In spite of the fact that these three things are awesome things for a country to be pleased with, the individuals of America need to keep these things up or our extraordinary country will break down.

What I mean when I state that the individuals of America are free I imply that there is an extremely nitty gritty bill of rights in our constitution posting the majority of our privileges and it is by a wide margin the biggest rundown of rights any nation has. Americans have the right to speak freely of discourse, which gives anybody a chance to state anything insofar as long as it doesn’t insult anybody. Americans likewise have the opportunity of the press, which enables columnists to compose anything they desire in papers. One of the most significant rights that American residents have, and has been the factor that has pulled in the vast majority of America’s workers over the ages, is a partition between chapel and state. This implies individuals in America can pick which religion to have confidence in or simply not have confidence in any religion. Furthermore, Americans can pick what level of the alliance they need to see of a specific religion. This point in the constitution is particularly imperative to me since I am Jewish and a significant number of the nations on the planet would not give me a chance to follow in the way of my religion. Generally speaking, I think the rights that we have in America are the best thing about this remarkable nation.

The second thing that I consider when I am asked what America intends for me is the means by which America is the practice like the incomparable leader of the world. In addition to other things, America is the pioneer in the economy, innovation, and barriers on the planet. Too, America’s kin has the best status of living in the whole world and ought to be a guide to every single developing nation. America likewise has one of the most progressive societies on the planet and it is being created. A case of how America is the incomparable ruler is when in the harmony talks in Israel, the two sides are requesting that America be the peacemaker. Why ask America and no nation? Since America is the main nation that truly has the ability to make harmony there. I think the main motivation behind why they asked Bedouin states to be aligned with us is a direct result of conciliatory reasons, yet no military reasons, since we most likely have the best-armed force on the planet. Be that as it may, we should strive to remain at the highest point of every one of these things referenced previously.

The third and kind of untimely idea that I consider when I am asked what America intends for me are ‘America the delightful’. The motivation behind why they made up this melody is that it is valid; America is excellent and delightful at that. You likely just need to drive not exactly an hour from most significant urban communities so as to land at an all-around saved, excellent national park. Obviously, these national parks are the best way to recollect how America was before pioneers settled here; it was quiet and serene. In spite of the fact that we Americans have made man-made stops inside our urban communities for our own pleasure, we should acknowledge the clear issues. It isn’t a genuine article. We have the genuine article however and the main thing we should do is ensure and safeguard it.

All in all, is that truly what America intends for me? Indeed, I suspect as much, yes without question so. Every one of these things is valid and I might truly want to keep these things valid by keeping up every one of them. We should particularly continue working at being the best, since I am certain most Americans like being the best, and would prefer to not be. What’s more, in spite of the fact that we probably won’t think the other two things referenced above are significant, they are, and they are likely a key piece of the greater part of our lives today. The central matter I am attempting to make is that every one of these things is brilliant, however, they should in any case be protected and improved.

At the beginning of every single school day, I, as well as thousands of my peers, stand up and pledge my loyalty to a red, white, and blue piece of cloth. Every time I watch a sports event on television, I see tens of thousands of Americans stand up with their hands on their hearts and face this ubiquitous piece of cloth as a familiar tune is played: The Star Spangled Banner. Every year, I, as well as millions of other Americans look on as red, white, and blue balls of flame sparkle in the sky, signifying the anniversary of the “birth” of the United States of America. When I pledge allegiance to those thirteen stripes and fifty stars, and to the republic for which it stands, I think of the countless other American citizens who have uttered the same words and am moved by how, even though we may be completely different, we all stand unified under the same banner. When I stand there with my hand on my heart as the horns blare the familiar tune of the national anthem, I am transported to Fort McHenry, looking on as our nation’s flag waves triumphantly in the face of bombardment. When I watch those spectacular fireworks light up the night sky, I am taken back to the time when our founding fathers gathered together and put forth the ideals that started this great nation. I consider how our nation used to have the justifiable title of the “greatest country in the world”, but now many Americans that I know today consider this country lost- headed on a path of economic decay, political corruption, and moral despair. Some Americans now find the 4th of July celebrations to bring a sense of despairing irony. They can hardly bring themselves to stand during the playing of the national anthem or pledge and have no defense or justification when other people attack our nation’s policies and ideals. I have realized now more than ever before how important it is to right the ship of this nation, to renew the sense of national pride that America so clearly deserves. After all, the core ideals of our nation as well as the principles upon which our country is based fabricate the true greatness of America.

Whenever I drive through the vast expanse of the US, I am struck by the diversity present throughout all fifty states, yet at the same time, I see that all of America is united by its common ideals, which serve as a unified vision and protect each individual citizen from possible tyrannies of government. Among these core, democratic ideals are liberty, opportunity, and equality of all citizens. Unlike any other country in the world, the US was literally founded upon these notions, and they constitute the American identity, rather than any ethnicity or religion. Despite the many flaws of our nation and the fact that we may not always live up to these ideals, they are the driving force behind which the American government still operates today. Uniting all Americans under one common identity, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or gender, these ideals lead our country to act as a beacon of hope and light, serving as a model to the international community while also drawing the oppressed, the despairing, the destitute to our homeland, with the dream of making a new life for themselves. It is because of these ideals that when I utter the phrase “I am an American”, I am filled with a sense of national pride.

Not only American democratic ideals but also the principles upon which our nation was founded- limited government and checks and balances- serve as integral aspects of the great American identity. These principles, When our founding fathers met up and drafted the first ever written Constitution, they had no idea if the great American republican experiment would work. Sure, they all shared a vague image of a government that protected the rights that each human had, but they each had different views of what kind of government that should be. No such government had ever been formed before, so this was radical in every way. They eventually pooled their ideas and came up with a representative republic in which all political power emanates from the people, who are each entitled to their own rights as human beings. Under the scrutiny of every country, this fledgling nation would develop an exemplary governmental system whose checks and balances would eradicate the possibility of a tyrannical government while also preventing any mobocracy or disorder. This powerful transformation of the common system of government being one of authoritarian control with little thought over the mass of people to a system where the government was there to protect individual rights can be owed to none other than the United States of America, and the seminal documents of our nation clearly convey the great emphasis that we place on human rights.

While our country’s principles and institutions clearly led the way in the course of human history, present day, our work ethic truly sets us apart from other nations.

We live in a society where meritocracy has become a myth. Meritocracy is a believed society where discrimination based on race, nationality, gender, age, and other irrelevant characteristics is completely absent. Meritocracy is giving everyone respect on basis of their ability, not the amount of power they have or the amount of money they have. Everything in the USA can be achieved through money. It is believed that everyone in the States is treated equally, but this is not true, because the United States of America is also a corrupt country, just like many other countries. It is believed that the brightest and most conscientious individuals are accurately and efficiently assigned to occupy the most important positions based on their talent and achievements. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. One of the biggest flaws of meritocracy comes in the education field. Even if a student gets a 35 on the ACT, he has less chance of getting into an elite institute, compared to a rich student who only got a 24 on the ACT. There are colleges out there that only accept students if they can donate to the college. People in the United States suffer from poverty, unemployment, discrimination, poor education, and poor access to information and new technologies, but all of this is ignored because everyone can’t speak up.

The term ‘meritocracy’ was first invented in 1956 by Michael Young. Young argued that meritocracy would only perpetuate inequalities, and to some extent his predictions were correct. The term ‘meritocracy’ was invented in the nineteen-fifties with a satirical intent that has now mostly been lost. Americans are more likely to believe that people are rewarded for their intelligence and skills, and are less likely to believe that family wealth plays a key role in getting ahead. The support of American citizens for meritocratic principles has remained the same over the last two decades, despite growing economic inequality, recessions, and the fact that there is less mobility in the United States than in most other industrialized countries. Meritocracy was first invented in the 10th BC by a Chinese resident who believed that the ruler who rules China should be chosen by his ability and talent. Young believed that everyone should be given the same opportunity no matter what their race, gender, or ethnic background is.

There could rise problems if meritocracy would be practiced. It can lead to inequality in education. For example, in Britain, class, gender, and ethnicity can affect the opportunities students have, even if they have good grades. Meritocracy is actually dividing the country. The country is now divided between the top 1% and the top 20%, and then the rest of the middle class (Markovits). The employees working high-paying jobs are working longer hours than ever before. Meanwhile, the middle class is falling behind, as employers demand more qualifications from employees. Right now, the middle class is suffering the most with the concept of a meritocratic society. We live in a society that divides people based on specific unchangeable metrics. There are a few groups that are rich that are continuously privileged, while the rest are continuously discriminated against. By doing this we are encouraging a meritocratic society that increases inequality wherever it is applied. In today’s world, the biggest downside of meritocracy is that it is an equality of outcomes, not equality of opportunities. It rewards one group of people who promise good outcomes and continuously keeps rewarding them whenever the expected outcome is realized. These rewards come at the expense of not providing equal opportunities to the group that got left behind at the start of the cycle. All the inequality in the world – race, caste, gender – is rooted in this false concept of merit.

It is believed that meritocracy is practiced everywhere, including in politics and schools. There are many scandals that prove this wrong for example the Varsity Blues scandal. The FBI and federal prosecutors announced that 50 people had been charged in, as Sports Illustrated put it, a nationwide college admissions scheme that used bribes to help potential students cheat on college entrance exams or to pose as potential athletic recruits to get admitted to high-profile universities. Corruption is supported not only by college officials but also by rich parents. Hardworking students get left out and rich students make their way up using money. In today’s world, anything can be achieved with money, including elite university degrees. There are many other cases where meritocracy is failing, for example, getting into private education. Private schools and colleges earn endowment income tax-free. The private schools also earn alumni donations, which is beneficial to them because those donations help with the tax deductible. The 10 biggest university endowments total more than $200 billion (Nguyen). This means that the public and the government are supporting the rich students who are able to afford all private education. The richest school districts in the United States are spending more than twice as much money per student each year as middle-class schools and elite private schools are spending as much as six times the middle class. What this does is it helps yield higher scores on standardized tests and admissions to more elite universities.

However, education is not the only place where meritocracy is showing its weakness. Technological innovations are making things difficult for less educated workers. In today’s world, technology depends on social and economic forces. The Industrial Revolution started with a wave of unskilled workers. The innovations of industrial production targeted new labor sources that helped make unskilled workers more productive and thus more valuable. But in present times innovations are overwhelmingly biased in favor of skilled workers, reflecting the same mechanism. This is decreasing the need for unskilled and less educated workers. This is not the meritocratic society that is described by politicians. Politicians describe the United States as a meritocratic country, which is not correct according to the lower-class citizens of the USA.

However, there are also benefits of meritocracy present throughout the states. There are many companies that use the meritocratic system. By using meritocracy, they are giving all the middle-class, uneducated equal opportunity. This is also helping in the removal of discrimination. The biggest online shopping hub in the world is Amazon; they are believed to be one of the first companies to start a meritocratic system in their working community. Amazon hires employees from all around the world, no matter how rich they are or how poor they are, they all start from the bottom and make their way up. By doing this, Amazon is making all employees equal.

The US is the country where we believe meritocracy exists but in reality, it does not. In the world, there are only a handful of countries that support the idea of a meritocratic community, one of those countries is Singapore. Meritocracy is a deeply held value in Singaporean culture. It survives on the idea that talent and hard work will be rewarded. One of the main groups focused on is students, scholarships and funds are given out to achieving individuals to reward them for hard work. By doing this the students are practicing the mindset that with hard work, there is always a possibility of success. Throughout the education system in Singapore, students are awarded funds and certificates which praise them for their efforts and motivate them to strive harder for even better results. Meritocracy exists not only academically, but also ethically. Students who outperform others in displaying ethics and morals are awarded the EAGLES Award, and the Ministry of Education has set in place the NYAA (National Youth Achievement Award) to spur youngsters to be more motivated to serve their community and help others in need. If we compare this to the USA, we are the complete opposite of Singapore. In the US parents pay the schools to make their kids successful. The rich kids get private education, while the middle-class students have to rely on the schools. The kids with money can get into Harvard with an ACT of 22, and the middle students can’t get in with an ACT score of 35, but still, the USA is seen as a meritocratic country.

The term ‘meritocracy’ was found in the 10th BC, but still, it is not practiced. Everything is corrupt in the United States, including the people, the politicians, and the education system. This is causing the middle class a big damage, for example, their kids can’t get into high-end schools or they cannot access technology as the upper class can. In 1958, Michael Young coined the term ‘meritocracy’ in his book, ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’. Young used the term satirically to depict a United Kingdom ruled by a system that favored intelligence and merit above all else, including past personal achievements. It now refers to organizations where the best people and ideas win. To make meritocracy successful, we must take some crucial steps. One of the first steps we have to take is to clean up our corrupt education system. Our education system is one of the most corrupt fields. For example, the Varsity Blues scandal, where they caught 50 people, including college officials and parents, who paid the college officials to change the standardized test scores by taking huge amounts of donations. One of the biggest flaws of meritocracy is politics. The ex-presidents are still earning millions of dollars despite retirement. We discriminate against people on basis of their education level and their race. The employees who are not familiar with technology get paid less than the people who are a little advanced in technology, but the employee with less technological knowledge do more work but still get paid less. Meritocracy will still remain a myth. To change that everyone has to change.