Martin Luther King Jr. reread the newspaper several times over, a rage building within him. As a Morehouse student, he was interested in social affairs, but this time was different. Shaking, he picked up his pen and drafted a letter to the editor of The Atlanta Constitution demanding racial equality.
MLK’s letter was his entry into the Civil Rights Movement and non-violent protests. While the letter was inspired by the brutal lynchings of Mae and George Dorsey and Dorothy and Roger Malcolm, the feeling in MLK’s heart was even bigger than that.
Throughout his career MLK showed that there were numerous ways to protest. Writing letters, boycotting, getting arrested, marching, and using broadcasted speeches to hold the systems that harm us accountable.
For the times he lived in, MLK’s letter was an effective way to protest. We must continue to get creative in protesting in the streets and on social media. Social media is a tool that makes our forms of protest more globally accessible. How can we use our platforms to uplift all the voices in our community?
Let’s work together to reimagine what protesting looks like in a way that reflects the future we’re trying to create. MLKs generation laid the foundation. WE now have the power to learn from our history and develop protest models that include all Black lives.