MLK’s inspiration and the internet age
Editor’s note: The Fresno County Superintendent of Schools sponsored the 2020 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest. Students throughout the county in grades 4th through 12th were invited to submit essays on the theme, “The Dream 2020: The Future Begins Today.” Here is the winning essay in the high school category written by Trisha Prajapati, a sophomore at Clovis North High School.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” These words are from the Birmingham Letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. This letter was handwritten by Dr. King and hand-delivered to the public going against an article that claimed that civil liberties were not the right thing to do. He claimed that the injustices against ethnic groups were unfair.This letter took weeks to reach the public, while today a letter like that could be sent in a matte of seconds and spread throughout the globe. Ideas for civil rights are spread through the internet so that they can spread further faster. Among these ideas are protests and stands against certain laws that infringe on civil rights all over the world.
During the time of Dr. King, water cannons were used to suppress large groups of activists. In this day and age, governments shut down the internet to stop the spread of these massive groups of people standing up for themselves and others. Due to technology, we are helping achieve Dr. King’s dream of equality.
#Metoo. This was a hashtag created by Tarana Burke on Myspace. She was a sexual harassment survivor who spoke out about the issue online to make people aware of the serious issue at hand. Not many knew about women suffering and even dying from this silent killer. When Burke spoke out to people all over the world, a movement was created to stop the sexual harassment many females face. This simple hashtag brought millions of people everywhere to come together and fight against sexual harassment. Just as Dr. King gathered groups of people in his area to stand up against the Jim Crow laws, today we can bring people of varying ethnicity and religions together from all countries across the globe through the internet. The internet has become the “gold” of the 21st century, being worth more than anything else to some people as it gives access to everything in a fast manner. In this way, when we lose the internet, we also lose ourselves due to dependency.
Governments of many countries are aware that the internet spreads these nonviolent protests and therefore they believe that turning off the internet in the entire country can stop the protests. For example, in Iran, the people of the country were not given enough freedom and went to the internet to express their honest opinions on the topic. The Iranian government could not suppress the protests in any other way, so they had to resort to shutting down the internet. A similar issue happened in Hong Kong. Protests were sparked and spread like wildfire through the internet and social media. The Chinese government has been threatening the people of China to shut down the internet if the constant peaceful protests continue. The power of the internet is so strong. Instead of helping the common people, it is now being used against them, as a sort of bait.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in bringing people together for nonviolent protests to go against certain unfair laws or rules segregating humans. He believed that no matter the color of skin, place of origin, or gender that all humans were created equal. He brought together many large groups of people to fight for their rights and today we are helping him achieve his dream of equality through actions we stand for in protecting the justice of internet communication. Together, through the internet, we are bringing people of similar interests to stand for their rights no matter what the cause may be. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired these strong events to take place — to stand up for ourselves.