"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." as said by Martin Luther King means rights will not be granted to the maltreated if they do not stand up for what they deserve. This is demonstrated in both “A White Woman Of Color” by Julia Alvarez and in a modern issue in politics in an article called “Study: White Cops Kill At Least Two Blacks Each Week” by George E. Curry. In both, violence is the type of oppression shown and related to the quote by Martin Luther King.
In “A White Woman Of Color” written by Julia Alvarez, she explains the difficulty she had while growing up in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez says that under the rule of the totalitarian ruler Trujillo, thousands of colored Haitians were slaughtered because they were ruining the purity of the Dominican race. Trujillo then declared the Dominican Republic “a white nation”. Alvarez says “All I had to do was stay out of the sun and behave myself, and I could pass as a pretty white girl” to show the severity of the racism in the Dominican Republic. This shows how even if her coloring was a little bit darker because of the sun, she would be discriminated against under the rule of Trujillo. This relates to the quote “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” by Martin Luther King because if thousands of people in the Dominican Republic ignored Trujillos threats to the darker skinned people, he would eventually give in and stop repressing them for their color. However, they did not fight back against him and lived in fear of being any darker. If the darker skinned just fought for the equal treatment they deserved and demanded it, they would be treated equally.
“I dont have a gun, STOP SHOOTING” were 18 year old unarmed Michael Brown’s last words as he was shot and killed by white police officer. People are being oppressed for their color today as well. Currently in the United States, unarmed African Americans are being killed,threatened or injured more often than whites by white police officers. In the article on the farmingdale database Academic Onefile called Study: White Cops Kill At Least Two Blacks Each Week, the columnist George E. Curry writes about how blacks are treated unfairly in society today by white police officers. He presents charts that show that NYPD white officers injure, kill and arrest black people more than any other race. Curry wrote that “Using the most conservative data, Blacks are almost twice as likely to be killed by police as cops are likely to be murdered in the line of duty. In most of the high-profile cases of police killing unarmed Blacks, there was no justification for the use of deadly force.” This shows that in society today, blacks are still being oppressed by law enforcement. African Americans are protesting and demanding that they become treated fairly and are protesting the many cases of deadly shootings involving unnecessary force by white police officers against African Americans. This relates directly to Martin Luther King’s quote “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” is shown through the African American’s protesting the unfair treatment, they are demanding that they be treated fairly. This example is different than the example I gave from “A White Woman Of Color” but can equally demonstrate and pertain to the quote. In “A White Woman Of Color”, Alvarez does not necessarily fight back against her oppressor but in this example and the study I wrote about, they are fighting back.
"Study: White cops kill at least two Blacks each week." UWIRE Text 1 Sep. 2014: 1. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
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