Suffer In Dignity Is Better Than To Accept Segregation In Humiliation. Essay

This essay should start by clarifying that segregation is in itself humiliation, and as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares, all human beings have the right to dignity: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” (United Nations 1948). And so, this struggle for what we have a natural right for, brings us to Martin Luther King. Doctor King believed that equality and dignity were thing worth striving and suffering for. That struggle is what this essay will talk about.
Through the times of the racial segregation, black people were not only discriminated and abused, they were also the object of humiliation just by being set apart from others due to the color of their skin. Even when they would not always experience violence, they would still be attacked. Attacked by every law that said that they had to sit at the back of the bus, attacked by every sign at every dinner that would not allow them to go in, as if they were dogs, attacked by every woman who would clutch her purse tighter whenever they saw them. However, when the people finally decided to stand up for themselves, it could not have been any easier. The people who dared to defy what everyone said was right, was also the people who had to take every insult, every punch, every attempt to stop them.
Although many people, especially African American people, suffered through the racial segregation period in the United States However, it is not any less respectable to find the amount of people who were willing to suffer both physically and emotionally in order to have equal rights for both black and white people. Even more respectable to think that said group of people was formed by both black and white folks. It gives hope to think that there are times when people are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to help others.
It may seem like it was only natural for people to eventually decide to fend for themselves after years of being assaulted and hurt. But we have got to take into account that a group of people decided to go against everything they had been taught since they were born in order to achieve what was right. There is no doubt that they ended up becoming modern martyrs for the obstacles they had to face in order to change every single stereotype, and every single mistaken belief they had carries up until then.
Through history we have certainly learned that, when it comes to fighting, human beings have no problem finding a reason, or an excuse to do it. If we look at history we will find many examples of people killing each other just because violence seems to be part of our nature. Nevertheless, there are times when it becomes necessary to fight for what is right. The fight against Segregation was one of those times. Whenever we search for that period of time we find ourselves articles that read something like this: “Between 1849 and 1950, blacks were segregated from whites by law and private action in transportation, public accommodations, armed forces, recreational.” (Library of Congress). Even now it is often we get stuck on labels and forget what the fight was really about: recognizing that we are all the same, recognizing that we are all people.

References

United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1948. Available from: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
Library of Congress. With an Even Hand. Available from: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-segregation.html