Custom essays on Martin Luther King Jr.

In the evening of April 4, 1968, the announcement that the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated was broadcasted over the national television networks. The brutal death of the civil rights leader elicited a political reaction manifest in social disturbances across the nation. A big amount of riots and lesser civil disturbances occurred as a direct aftermath of the milling. There obviously can be found several explanations for the disturbances. The best-known civil right leader in the nation had been murdered. For many people, Martin Luther King Jr. had become a symbol of progressive change in policies concerning race relations and poverty. The murder also occurred within the context of increasing interracial tension. More widespread rioting, looting and burning – although less personal violence – took place in prior summer than at any other time since the Civil War. Finally, diverse modes of political participants among Black people had emerged on a fairy massive scale (Blauner, 2005). At the same time, the death of Martin Luther King Jr. was not only the result of his active social position and his leadership in the Civil Rights movement but also it was the result of his psychological peculiarities and his inclination to publicity and irresistible desire to revolutionize the American society and change it for better, making the US one nation where people are equal regardless the color of their skin and social standing. In such a way, Martin Luther King Jr. provoked his assassination by his participation in the Civil Rights movement and, what is more, by his psychological peculiarities, his personal and political views, which simply left his opponents no choice but to murder him to keep him silent and outside the struggle for equality and social justice in the US.
Martin Luther King Jr., an Afro – American preacher and leader of the civil rights movement of black people, called for equality through nonviolent action. His significant speech “I Have a Dream” has become the universal dream of fair and equal American society for many people. Deeply religious man, Martin Luther King Jr. was also a great supporter of civil rights. In December 1955, a black woman, a resident of Montgomery, was arrested for having refused to give a sit to a white man in the bus. This led to a series of events through which Martin Luther King Jr. gained international fame.
Following his ideas and believes, King Jr. led the boycott of city buses, which lasted 382 days. Despite the fact that it cost him personal indignities, Martin Luther King Jr. finally got his way – the United States Supreme Court declared segregation in public transportation unconstitutional (Carson, 36). Martin Luther King has got a lot of enemies because of his personal and political ideologies. Most of the white people were against the equalization of rights. One of the main opponents of racial equality in the middle of the last century was the governor of Alabama George Wallace.
Martin Luther King Jr. went through the whole country, giving speeches about social injustice in all spheres of life. He organized sit-ins and other nonviolent forms of protest, based on Christian teachings, which he has drawn from the preaching of Mahatma Gandhi (McAdam, 1988). Martin Luther King Jr. always followed his ideology and it often brought to success. In fact, it is under the pressure of Martin Luther King Jr. and the rising civil rights movement President Lyndon Johnson signed the law about equality in the voting in 1965. But the personal and political victories have been won at great cost. Even though the protests that were arranged by him were meant to be non-violent, the protesters` clashes with law enforcement officials have become more frequent.

Martin Luther King JR was the leader, who was ready to struggle till the end of his life. His leadership, charisma, popularity and strife for justice made him the enemy number one of white supremacist and a symbol of the rise of Civil Rights movement. In such a way, his opponents viewed his as a primary cause of the Civil Rights movement. Therefore, they believed that through his assassination they would stop the Civil Rights movement and, what is more, they viewed him as the great threat to the existing social order. In fact, Marin Luther King Jr. developed revolutionary ideas but he chose the non-violent means of struggle. Martin Luther King Jr had chosen the civil disobedience way to reach the racial equality and social justice in the US. Naturally, the civil disobedience was the direct threat to the ruling elite and the existing social order. At the same time, Martin Luther King Jr was a true leader who would never give in. He would never agree to compromises with his opponents until he reached his goals. This is why such personal inclinations and his political views lead him to the dead-end.
Eventually, Martin Luther King Jr. himself had become a victim. In 1968, in Memphis, in Tennessee, where he arrived to lead the demonstration, he was killed. The murder of Martin Luther King led demonstrations across America, during which it there were wounded and arrested tens of thousands of people. This murder caused a national outrage, accompanied by riots of blacks more than in a hundred of cities (Ardent, 1972).
The murder of a political leader is one of the most remarkable acts of political violence. It is known that such events often have substantial political, social and economic implications for the society. The assassination of the head of a country or a significant political leader affects political stability, increases the level of political tension, and is the threat of civil war in the states. The same thing happened after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The murder of Martin Luther King Jr. led to a wave of unrest throughout the country in more than 60 cities. After the assassination, the issue related to the dustman strike in Memphis, was solved in the favor of black workers (Douglass, 2000). These facts prove that Martin Luther King Jr. was a true leader of the nation and his strategy of civil disobedience has proved to be effective and successful but not for Martin Luther King Jr. himself. His Civil Rights movement, which he led, was one of the most renowned manifestations of civil disobedience. However, this movement could hardly succeed without its leader. In this respect, the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights movement persisted even after his death because his ideas proved to be progressive and outpaced the dominant ideology of his time, while, at the personal level, there was no other leader, who could be as charismatic and inspiring as Martin Luther King. As a result, his ideas, his strategy of civil disobedience and his vision of the future American society guided millions of Americans in their struggle for equal rights even after the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
The death of King confirmed the correctness of his chosen direction. It seemed that it had to put an end to hopes for the possibility of peaceful struggle. The assassination of such a significant leader as Martin Luther King Jr. influences the American society greatly. It brought to substantial political, social and economic implications for the society. The assassination affected the political stability, increased the level of political tension, led to interracial problems and to the unrest of the masses in society. The assassination of the leader always leads to psychological, cultural, political and sociological oppression of the country.
References:
Ardent, H. .(1972). Crises of the Republic. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Blauner, B. (2005). Black Lives, White Lives. New York: Routledge.
Douglass, J. (2000). The Martin Luther King Conspiracy: Exposed in Memphis. Probe Magazine, 18.
McAdam, D. (1988). Freedom Summer. Oxford University Press.