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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING AND HIS IMPACT
by Noelle Robinson — If you had to start a TikTok page, what would your videos look like? What would be the theme of the page? There is something beautiful about social media, in how the world is connected. I have learned about various ways of life, religious traditions, cultural heritages, and personal stories from swiping on my screen. It is insane that someone talking about their day can receive over a million views. This also shows the accessibility we all have to a stage before the world. Beyond TikTok, and scaling down from the one billion users, an Instagram post reaches all of your followers. During the school, we have chapel, Monday meetings, and forums. My point in saying this is that there are many platforms for you all to share your voice. The internet and the St. Anne’s-Belfield community have made it accessible for all of us.
We learn about Dr. Martin Luther King because he understood the value of his voice. He used his voice to teach people about the power of love, the power of words, and the power of regular people. He entered communities to curate change and garnered national attention. Dr. King exemplifies the principle of teaching the world through an abundance of hope and love. He taught people to rebel without violence and to protest with peace. His principles have been carried into many modern protesting and calls for change. As we have grown into reading current events and watching the news, there has been a lot of racial and religious violence. Through these experiences, I have learned two lessons of my own. First, reading the news or talking about important social issues might make us uncomfortable. It is okay for you to identify that feeling, but that does not give you reason to stop listening and learning. When I was younger, I wanted to solely focus on the positive. However, as I ma-
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-tured, I realized that we cannot escape the negative or uncomfortable parts of reality. It is better to understand it than it is to ignore it. Second, it is all of our responsibility to carry ourselves into a more equitable and just society. If I say “someone stand up” to a room of 100 people, how many people would actually stand up? Most would think someone else will do it. This is an example of the diffusion of responsibility. If we think to ourselves someone will help them or someone will share information about a certain event, why not you? Martin Luther King said, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” From global warming, to inequitable housing, to fill in the blank, we can all learn more about what is going on, listen to people who want to educate others, boost their voices, and share our own voice. I am not here asking you to learn about everything, because you cannot do it all. However, we can start small by finding some causes we are passionate about, volunteering, or by reading the news. Silence and ignorance is not an option. We all have many platforms to share our voice, to boost the voices of others, learn from others, and understand different opinions. With Google, TikTok, Instagram, and the world at your fingertips, we can listen and learn. We are all changemakers by getting ourselves and others involved in a cause, speaking up when something is wrong, and inspiring conversation about societal issues. We don’t have to act on the Martin Luther King level. Start small and build. We all have the platforms to spark change and communities who want to listen. Do not be silent, and do not forget the power of your voice.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. Tyson’s professional research interests include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of the Milky Way. Like his friend Carl Sagan, Dr. Tyson has played an important role in popularizing astrophysical concepts and discoveries. He is most famous for popularizing science with books such as The Pluto Files (2009) and through hosting his series about science, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014). Page 3
