The Other America

(Note: All quotes were taken from MLK Jr.’s The Other America Speech, except for the very last quote)

            The Civil Rights Movement was one moment of societal unrest, out of many moments, that unearthed the vast array of racial tensions that were rampant in the 1950-60s and are still rampant in the current U.S. Specifically, the major outcomes of the Civil Rights movement laid the foundation for the 1992 LA Riots. By the “major outcomes of the Civil Rights movement,” I mean when the Civil Right Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were cemented into U.S. law. How so? Well, political and societal equality was somewhat gained in terms of everyone being able to vote without any impediments(e.g. literacy tests) and discrimination and segregation were outlawed in public and private properties. But with every step forward, in terms of equality, there is always a step(s) back.

            In a famous and enlightening speech given in March of 1968 by Martin Luther King Jr. titled, The Other America, the idea that equality was achieved and racism was ended with the passage of the civil rights legislation is combatted. In this speech, Martin proclaims that there is still a long way to go for a completely unprejudiced and equal society to be created. Martin states that the civil rights movement, as a whole, was “a struggle for decency” but the new struggle during this speech, during the LA riots, and in present-day U.S. is a struggle for “genuine equality.” By genuine equality, Martin means to describe a society in the U.S.: where there is no impression of a superior/inferior race, where education anywhere in the U.S. is satisfactory, where political and economic opportunities are not based on the color of your skin, “where black men and white men share power together to build a new and a great nation,” and where racism is seen for what it is, unjust. Genuine equality is the idea that the gap of inequality between races can be closed by everyone ignoring preconceived prejudices and coming together to build a better world that is full of more opportunities for all.

            To get back to the point made in the first paragraph, America may have given people of color(PoC) civil rights in the 60s but didn’t give them the resources/opportunities to reverse the last three hundred years of slavery and oppression and to reinvigorate genuine equality. During post-civil rights movement, PoC were still subject to discrimination, lived in poverty, had subpar living conditions and education, and had twice the unemployment rate of whites. (Info summarized from MLK’s speech.) The only thing that changed in their lives was the addition of having a say in political matters and finally being able to legally integrate in social and work areas with whites. In regards to discrimination during this time, the law can outlaw it but the law can not fully stop people from engaging in it.

            Final point, in MLK’s The Other America speech, he disagrees with the riots going on at the time(e.g. Harlem and Watts riots). But at the same time contends that those riots would’ve never happened to the extent that they did if the conditions, examples in previous paragraph, that caused them would’ve been resolved sooner. None of the Harlem or Watts rioters’ voices/demands for equality were heard or listened to. As a result, Martin asserts that the rioters’ were left “unheard” and the only way for their voice, their demands for justice and equality could be heard and listened to is through rioting.

            After more than 50 years has passed, the racial atmosphere of the past still resembles the period of the LA Riots and present-day U.S. This is the reason I chose to talk about MLK’s speech, because his demands and arguments for genuine equality among society similarly echo the same demands and arguments of those who partook in the 1992 LA Riots. The LA rioters were angry at society because after 50 years since the passage of legislation that supposedly gave rights to make all races equal, both races were still not equal at all. One was and still is more privileged than the other by a margin to this day. While PoC suffer the consequences of being given freedom without any readily available resources to lift themselves up in most scopes of their life. 

            Overall, the LA rioters wanted to bridge the gap of racial inequality that never ceased to close since the dawn of slavery. However, people with the power to enact change(e.g. politicians, judges, people in charge of LAPD) barely paid attention to the multiple cases of racial profiling and excessive force done to PoC by the LAPD without ramifications, and the discriminatory loopholes of the legal system that were allowed for inadequate and weak consequences to be given to the officers who beat Rodney King. It was not until they, PoC, took a stand in their struggle for equality that those people began to listen. It was as if their voices, their cries for help and justice were not significant to others before they took action. It was as if they were inferior. History repeats itself and it can be seen that Blacks during the Civil Rights movement felt the same way and pushed against this social stigma to create a better world for future generations of PoC by rallying against the racial inequality in the U.S. Nonetheless, PoC struggled in the 60s, in the LA Riots, and are still struggling today in a society still divided by race. MLK’s speech is just a reminder that the struggle for genuine equality is still an ongoing battle that will always take numerous forms(e.g. LA Riots, Civil Rights Movement) to achieve an America where there is true “liberty and justice for all.”

-Written by Emilio Marquez Fernandez