If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive today, he would wish he were dead because of how complacent black people have become.
In the 60s, Dr. King stood for everything that white people thought we weren’t.
He was intelligent, a great leader, a great speaker, and was the definition of non-violence.
Today, many of us are complacent, lack leadership, and love to blame white people for our problems.
The other night I went to a party at my cousin’s house. It was fun.
People were drinking, and I found myself still drinking my cup of water until five in the morning.
The night was quite memorable, not because of the party but because of the conversation my friends and I had on the drive home.
My friends all questioned how many of the white people at the party were racists, and whether their feelings were obvious.
Not to my surprise, they all thought that the white people had preconceived notions about black people.
What surprised me, however, was that my friends had some of the same preconceived stereotypes toward white people.
Anyway, the party would have lasted all night, if it were not for a fight that started between a friend of mine and a white guy.
When we got back to campus and my friends heard there was a fight between our friend and a white guy, they all sided with our black friend without knowing the whole story.
My friends all thought that the fight was the white guy’s fault for supposedly trying to kiss a black girl while they were both drunk.
What they didn’t know is that my friend started everything when he called the girl “stank” and then proceeded to hit the white guy for defending the girl.
That night showed me all I needed to know about “my people.” Instead of finding peaceful resolutions to our problems, too many of us resort to violence.
We blame white people for almost everything that goes wrong, when some of those times we should be looking in the mirror.
If Dr. King were still alive he would be appalled at how much focus we’ve lost. I, for one, am quite glad Dr. King never had to witness how little we’ve done to improve ourselves in the past 35 years.
Will Brown, 18, is a freshman broadcast journalism student from Rockledge, Fla. He can be reached at wilbitsgood48@aol.com.