On January 15 of each year, people around the world celebrate Martin Luther King Day. This day honors the life of an African American civil rights leader. He organized marches to move toward African Americans gaining the right to vote, abolish segregation laws, and many different labor rights, and gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. His speech asked the people for civil and economic rights and to end racism towards people in the United States.
There are not a lot of people in today’s society who think about civil rights and freedom in America now. Students and staff members at ACE were asked about their opinions on Martin Luther King Day and events that went on in Danbury. There are many different points of view on the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Two teachers from ACE, Glenda and Rob were asked about any events that went on in the Danbury area for Martin Luther King Day. Although the day is celebrated by many people, the only event that went on in Danbury was one at New Hope Baptist Church. Glenda also mentioned that New Milford had a variety of events for the day.
Haley and Dayanara, two students from the Journalism class, mentioned their awareness of how important Martin Luther King Jr’s dream of equality was. The two went on to explain that they do believe his speech made a large impact on the world today. “We’re living his dream of equality to some extent. There’s less racism.” When I asked Haley if she thinks about civil rights in America often, she replied that she rarely thinks about it. Both conclude that Martin Luther King Day is an important day to be celebrated and should be appreciated.
T, another student from the journalism class said that she also believes the “I Have a Dream” speech made a large impact on the world. Stating that it’s not very often that she thinks about civil rights in America but she does believe that Martin Luther King Day is appreciated enough in today’s society.