Marching On

So, it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. To the majority of the people I have talked to today they find it to be one of the most pointless holidays of the year. I believe one of the quotes I have received today was, "Yeah the guy did some amazing things, but he's dead. It's time to move on." Seems odd to me when you think that that guy turned a nation upside-down. Today reading some of his speaks (and watching the movie The Princess Protection Program) I realized that it's not about who we are, but about what we can do to better what we have around us.
Theatre for social change is about looking at the world around us, and taking what we see to help better a wrong or change an injustice. In the speech "Our God is March On," it is pointed out that not only is there the wrong of blacks not being able to vote, but it goes right to the heart of the issue. Theatre is used as a tool to speak across barriers just like art. In this case it was the barrier of race that Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to speak across. He stated that the Jim Crow laws were put in place to separate the low class white from the blacks because they were too close. Of course these people were close they were seen as second class citizens in the eyes of the wealthy whites. They also held common goals: to feed their families, keep their pride, and to survive. The speech is a monologue about becoming active to change the world around us. It's exactly what social change is about.

The other speeches I read were: "I have a Dream", "Where do We Go From Here", "Loving Your Enemies", and "Beyond Vietnam."