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Martin Luther King Jr Essay

In: Historical Events

Submitted By xnhojx
Words 1040
Pages 5
John 1
Professor Tucker
English 124
24 November 2012
Discrimination across time Dear Reverend King,
It has been over 40 years since you have fought for racial inequality here in the United States. Your work during the Civil Rights Movement has greatly impacted the minds and social ideas for just about everyone living in the United States today. Today many people are aware of the idea that a person should not judge another person based on the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character. Today many of the rules concerning segregation and racial inequality that existed during your time are long gone thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and many other laws against discrimination. Laws for segregation for things such as water fountain use, schooling, restrooms, park benches, buses, trains, and segregated seating have all disappeared. Racist name calling is now perceived inappropriate and un-American and interracial marriages are at an all-time high. It is quite evident that racial equality is much closer today than when you were alive despite what many people believe. In the year 2012 things are very different socially than in the early 1950s and 1960s. Children are taught at a very early age that racial discrimination and racism is wrong throughout the nation. In 1968 a documentary was released by PBS called “The Eye of the Storm” that taught

young third graders that racial discrimination was wrong. The thing that made this documentary truly special was that these young children lived in an all-white neighborhood in the state of Iowa, and it also displayed how fast the mindsets of Americans changed from being for racial discrimination to being against racial discrimination. On September 24, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order #11246 that was originally introduced by President John. F. Kennedy. This law required

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