Martin Luther King Jr. in my opinion is overrated, not in what he achieved but in what we learn about him in school. Schools teach us that he was a great “leader,” but all he did was come into a town, give a speech, get everyone excited, and then leave before anything actually happened. MLK is like the Katniss Everdeen of the Civil Rights Movement. He was the face of everything that happened, but what about the people behind him? The people who made it possible for him to do the things he did, like the Montgomery Bus Boycott? He could not have done it by himself. MLK was a great leader, but why is he the only leader with a holiday named after himself? There are holidays for groups of people but not individual people. Presidents Day is to celebrate all the people have represented this country. Memorial Day is to celebrate all the soldiers who have given up their life for this country. These, along with many other holidays, are to celebrate large groups of people, but they all share a day. Why does MLK deserve a day to himself? The day stands for more than just his accomplishments, like non-violent protests and focuses on the issue of civil rights. No one focuses on anything but the name of the holiday--“Martin Luther King Day”. People glorify him more for what he could have done rather than for what he actually did. He died in his prime, and instead of looking back and seeing what he did, many look ahead and see what could have been done if he had lived. Some think of him as immortal, like he wasn’t the same as anyone else. Just like anyone else who died in his or her prime. Tupac wasn’t called the best rapper of all time, until he was shot and killed. I’m not saying that MLK didn’t accomplish great things, but he was glorified more than anyone else in the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. is Overrated
Trent Wilson
22