As a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. young Morehouse student, he reread the newspaper several times over, a rage building within him. A rage rooted in love and revolutionary protest.
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 after the brutal murders of Mae and George Dorsey and Dorothy and Roger Malcom, what would be referred to as the last mass lynching in America, it was 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 anti-Black systems accountable.
For the times he lived in, MLK’s letter was an effective way to protest. We must continue to get creative in how we protest, both 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 the more marginalized voices within 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 recreate in person and develop protest models that are inclusive of ALL Black lives.