My Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech

SECOND PLACE (4TH & 5TH GRADES) Golda Meir, 5th Grade

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was here, I think he would be disappointed with the world we live in. He did make a huge impact, but have we really changed so much? Take a look at the Black Lives Matter movement. The world continues to discriminate and exclude certain people for outrageous reasons. We need to keep moving forward. We are stuck in the same spot like a poster tacked to the wall. Martin says:

“If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run, then walk; if you can’t walk, then crawl; but by all means, keep moving... whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

We thought we were done with discrimination. We would love to be. But we’re not there yet. Do you know why? Because we stopped moving. We stopped thinking about the progress we could make and began to think about the progress we’ve made. We only think about what we’ve done, and it hasn’t gotten us far. When we think about it, Dr. King never stopped moving forward. Ever. He broke the law for us. He was arrested multiple times for us. He fought for us. His life was taken just so we could be free. We can keep moving forward if we keep the same mindset as him. Selflessness is the key to freedom. If we all think about how much the things we do can benefit others, we can persuade them to keep moving forward. We would be nothing without movement, like how we would not survive without water. We need to go somewhere, we can’t just stay in the same place forever. Give a helping hand in your neighborhood, clean up your local park, volunteer at senior centers, give food to the homeless; all of these things are things you can do to keep moving forward. The Black Lives Matter movement is showing us our flaws and telling us to fix them. Encourage your friends and family to do the same, and together, we can make a change, just like Dr. King did.