Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is on Monday. If he
were alive today, how do you think he would feel about the current
state of African Americans, minorities and civil rights in
general? Robert Battles Fourth-year
African American studies “I think that if he were alive today
he would find that the world we live in isn’t the one he was
going for. I think he was looking for a world that was more
tolerant of the views that every individual possesses. He would
probably say that people need to be more real with each other; we
live in a society where people act like racism and homophobia
don’t exist. You see this a lot at UCLA, especially since
it’s located in the Los Angeles area where communities are
economically and racially stratified.” Jessica
Read
Second-year
Music Performance “There has been a lot of progress since
his time, but I still think he would be disappointed that
there’s still a lot of racism. I personally have it easy, but
I notice how other people are treated and don’t agree with
it. UCLA is a very diverse campus and people get along pretty well
from what I’ve seen, but outside of the classroom there are
people who still hold on to certain biases.” Lindsay
Martin Fourth-year Political science “I think he
would say that we are at the half-way point of the battle. We have
come a long way, but we still have quite a way to go. As far as
UCLA, I think he would encourage us to hang out more together and
not hang out with people who look exactly like us. The more we
socialize with people that visually look different than us, then
the more we will understand them.” Alfonso
Gonzales Second-year Latin American studies “Your
talking about the state of African Americans where you have more
African Americans in California prisons than you do in California
university systems. I think that Martin Luther King would be
extremely critical of the fact that we removed affirmative action.
King would be critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Third World as
he was of the Vietnam War. King would be outraged at people who
have appropriated his name to support a right-wing agenda that says
his “˜I have a dream’ vision of equal opportunity means
banning people of color from the university.” Sheryl
Mariano Second-year Women’s studies major “Even
though there have been improvements with the standing of
minorities, you still have division among minorities. His dream
clearly has not yet been fulfilled. Despite everything else, people
are still separated.” Alexander Spilger
Third-year Mechanical Engineering “I believe he’d be
content to an extent. Until the world is perfect, there’s
always work to be done. At UCLA all students are busy to the extent
where they may create their own bubble and forget about the poor
and disadvantaged, and that can have negative effects.”
Speaks Out compiled by Jonah Lalas and Cuauhtemoc Ortega, Daily
Bruin Senior Staff. Photos by Alisa Stout.