• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

January 21, 2019 Current Events in Education

Opinion: If You Can't Say "Black Lives Matter" Then You Can't Use Any Quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About TER Staff

The Educator's Room is a daily website dedicated to showing that teachers are the experts in education. If you are interested in submitting a piece for publication, please send a draft to info@theeducatorsroom.com.
  • Under a new federal bill, teachers would make a minimum salary of $60,000 - December 17, 2022
  • Redefining in loco parentis: What does it mean to care for Black children? - October 5, 2022
  • Quinta Brunson + ABC Network Sued For Copyright Infringement For Television Show ‘Abbott Elementary’ - July 18, 2022
  • We Crowdsourced What Teachers Said Can Stop Gun Violence in Schools - May 27, 2022
  • Weird News: Why Are People Asking Quinta Brunson To Do a 'School Shooting' Episode? - May 25, 2022
  • After Another School Shooting, No More Words. - May 25, 2022
  • Teacher Appreciation Week Deals 2022 - May 2, 2022
  • Abbott Elementary When Discretionary Funds Are On the Line - April 6, 2022
  • Abbott Elementary Tackles Tik Tok Challenges - April 6, 2022
  • The Dangerous Suppression of “Don’t Say Gay” - March 23, 2022

Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. […] Now we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window breaking. (15.1–2, 4–6)

This is a quote from the last speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King delivered April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN. I've listened to this speech numerous times as I've tried to convey the darkness of this speech to high school students I teach and each time it gives me chills. Maybe  I know less than 24 hours later, Dr. King was murdered outside his room at the Lorraine Hotel in downtown Memphis or maybe because even though fifty years have passed many things around race have stayed the same.
As I think about his life and untimely death, there's nothing more apparent to me that Dr. King was a drum major for justice and in a time where Jim Crow was low, he was brave enough not only to say, Black Lives Matter but to actually be involved in direct action to make sure people in power knew this also. During his time Dr. King was beaten, stabbed, shot, and ultimately killed because he dared to go against the status quo and live a life that mirrored his beliefs.
To date, America has never come to grips with its racist history and how it impacts the lives of Black and Brown students in our country. We've just endured the last four years with a White Supremacist as the President of the United States all while continuing seeing black bodies murdered on our nightly news by police. In less than 11 days ago, the United States Capitol was besieged by Trump Supporters in a homeland act of domestic terror where members of Congress and even a Vice-President was targeted all in an effort to dispute the election of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.
In the 50+ years since Dr. King's murder,  there is still a battle against the injustice being waged that teachers have the front row seats to 180 days a school year. The battle is no longer against law enforcement who turned dogs onto peaceful protestors or who normal citizens who upheld openly racist policies, instead it's a war where teachers are fighting against implicit bias, outdated teaching practices, and curriculum that does not reflect the diverse students we serve on a daily basis. This war is not just happening in the streets when people decide to protest but for teachers, we're fighting this battle every day in our classrooms, in the principal's office, at Central Office, and online in our teaching communities.
But how can we as educators embrace Dr. King and his stance on social justice by posting memes, creating products, posting quotes, and pictures from the Civil Rights movement but still cringe whenever today someone demands that schools recognize that Black Lives Matter? This very basic premise is enough to get you thrown out of Facebook groups or chided by not jumping on the "kindness will solve all things" bandwagon, but it's important for educators to remember that not only did black lives matter to Dr. King in rhetoric but was apparent in his daily battles of working against an unjust system.
But how can we as educators embrace Dr. King and his stance on social justice by posting memes, creating products, posting quotes, and pictures from the Civil Rights movement but still cringe whenever today someone demands that… Click To Tweet
Throughout his life Dr. King :
  • was arrested 29 times in his fight for equality and against capitalism. His arrests included charges of loitering, perjury, traffic violations all with jail sentences stemming from overnight in jail to sentenced to months in work camps.
  •  narrowly escaped an assassination attempt a decade before his death.
  • as a 17-year-old he wrote a letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution decrying the lynching of four African- Americans in Georgia.
  • was the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the transit system.
  • organized an initial march from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery. The marchers were turned back by state troopers with nightsticks and tear gas.

And despite the ridicule, the lies, the threats on his life, the naysayers and backstabbers, Dr. King managed to uphold through direct action that black lives matter.  Today in education you will see teachers who post quotes from Dr. King's life and reduce his work to just being about kindness, but the reality that to teach about anything concerning the Civil Rights Movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I need for teachers to become comfortable with one of the most basic principles around social justice- black lives matter- both inside and outside of your classroom.

You see it's not enough to discuss Dr. King's legacy and feel good because you did a cute craft project or that you found a quote you like. Our duty as educators call for us to embrace the hard truths and fight so that our students understand the complexity of racism, the 'back-breaking work' of equity for all, and most importantly realize that supporting movements based on inequity are important as we work on being anti-racist educators.  This work is important so that in the next fifty years, Dr. King's work isn't sanitized to the point that the conversation isn't even about racism anymore.  The reality is that at the time of Dr. King's death, seventy-five percent of Americans disapproved of his work.

So as we engage in a day of service, march in your local King commemorative marches, or work in schools across America, remember that Dr. King gave his life for teachers not to talk about what he would have wanted, but to do what he actually did. As educators, it's up to us to not only acknowledge racism but to act on the injustices that plague this world and as a start, it's critical that we start with saying black lives actually matter. 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailWhat We Forgot From School Default Thumbnail5 Lessons We All Need to Know in Education It's Time to Build The Case for More Vo-Tech Classes Respect in the Classroom: Earned, Not Expected
« Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail
The Implications of 'Surviving R. Kelly' in our Classrooms »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It
  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.