Multiculturalism in Martin Luther King's Teaching
Multiculturalism in Martin Luther King's Teaching
In this essay, I am going to present the reality beyond the idea of multiculturalism which first developed by Martin Luther King in 60s who was against racist movements in USA and I will try to show whether racism is over or not among today’s world nations, especially in Turkey. It’s a true fact that, unfortunately, multiculturalism replaced with narrow nationalism, cultural isolationism and xenophobia in recent years throughout the world as well.
Obviously, when I think about racism or inequality, first America occurs to my mind. In American history Martin Luther King fights with racist movements non-violently and he achieved to held people to think about equality, not only in USA but also in throughout the world. Bell Hooks assert: “King taught us to understand that if ‘we are to have peace on earth’ that our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation”(Hooks, p, 237). That is to say, we need to have peace on earth and we have to be beyond the idea of racism and nationalism or other groups for providing world peace. For this reason, King tried to teach importance of multiculturalism universally. Every kind of people could enjoy our society otherwise; we could not have peace on earth. Because of his uniting notions, he decided to support multiculturalism in America. Britannica encyclopedia states that: “Martin Luther King was leader of the black freedom movement who was able to turn protests into a crusade and to translate local conflicts into moral issues of nation-wide concern. Successful in awakening the black masses and galvanizing them into action, he won his greatest victories by appealing to the consciences of white Americans and thus bringing political leverage to bear on the federal government in Washington. The strategy that broke the segregation laws of the South, however, proved inadequate to solve more complex racial problems elsewhere...”(Britannica, p,337). He struggled hard with the taboos of white Americans but at last his dream came true. Thus, black and white people became equal. As in his famous speech which held in 28.August.1968, King says that “I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my...