Friday, January 21, 2011

Rethinking MLK Day: Poverty in America

First, I would like to congratulate people who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend a social justice-related event on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Holiday. I posted this video because all too often, we focus so much on civil rights and legal segregation that he also had a message on economic justice. He wanted to create a Poor People's Campaign in Washington DC that would protest poverty and inequality in America. Once he visited the northern states, he realized that poverty was the biggest indicator in sustaining health disparities, underemployment, illiteracy and homelessness. Although people needed equal protections under the law, people were still suffering at the mercy of big business.

Today, we live in one of the richest nations with the worst inequality rates. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen each year. Listen to King's speech in the video below. How would you continue his dream in promoting economic and social justice?

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