Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., whose influence is still felt today, specifically by those participating in today’s nonviolent protests to stand up for what they believe in.
King, an American Baptist minister and activist, inspired people during the civil rights movement with nonviolent protests, marches and speeches. Ronschall Love, program assistant at NC State’s African American Cultural Center, discussed how he represented all people through his work in the civil rights movement.
“He was an activist, he was a trailblazer,” Love said. “He fought for freedom and he fought for the rights of, I would say everyone. And I think that his passion, he wanted unity.”
Love also emphasized how King’s nonviolence, along with his other values, have impacted people today.
“He stood for nonviolence,” Love said. “He didn’t ask for the violence. The violence came as part of it, but he stood for nonviolence. And I think his legacy is so strong today because of the values that he stood for and what he stood for.”
Marriah Decosta, a second-year in the College of Engineering, said that King was a prominent leader she learned about growing up.
“He’s very inspiring,” Decosta said. “I know growing up, I didn’t know much about social injustice. I grew up in a very closed-minded home, but as time progressed I learned about leaders, especially him. Whenever you think of social justice or civil rights, he’s the poster child for it.”
Like King, people have utilized nonviolent actions during movements today like Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives. Decosta said that she thinks King is a big inspiration for student activism and participating in peaceful protests.
“He brought light to the whole peaceful protest thing,” Decosta said. “When you’re attacked, it’s very easy to be like ‘okay we’re going to fight fire with fire.’ If we’re met with aggression, we’ll return said aggression. … [King] showed people that even though they look at us as aggressive, you can still be peaceful in a time of aggression and I feel like, especially with Black Lives Matter, that peacefulness, the peaceful approach, translates into those things.”
While Decosta said that King has helped to make a difference in today’s society, she believes there is still more work that needs to be done.
“We still have a lot of work to do as a nation,” Decosta said. “What Martin Luther King did was regrouped everyone together. As one person doing something, you don’t get that far, you make a change but you don’t get that far. But what he did that was different was show things as a collective.”
Love also said that King’s actions and values during the civil rights movement have influenced young people to stand up for their beliefs half a century later.
“Even now with the gun violence and all of that, more and more young people are speaking up and saying enough is enough,” Love said. “They’re exercising their voice and their right for freedom of speech and I think he paved the way for that.”
According to Love, the African American Cultural Center holds many events and programs for students to learn and celebrate their heritage, and King helped to spread and solidify that message in history.
“Being able to accept others’ differences and just knowing that we can allege along in the same spaces,” Love said. “I think once we accept the differences and embrace those differences then we can move forward.”
