Interested in the idea of home and away–MLK speech.
In reading the Martin Luther King Jr. speech I was interested in the dynamics he mentions between “home” and “away”. The heart of the domestic issues at hand that he covers draw parallels to those in American soldiers situated in Vietnam. How can a nation advocate to go and destroy another country’s homeland physically, emotionally, and mentally while having such racial tensions at home. A question for me that arises here is, why do we allow a select few to decide the fate of our country?
In the 60’s, every man had to sign up to be able to get drafted. This was the law, however, why were certain minority groups so nationally inclined to go when they were being constantly harassed by law enforcement. This was seen in the Serpico documents and historically (Which is attributed to Reagan’s War on drugs campaign that lasted decades). This calls into question about the unfair practices done by the government, essentially forcing minorities into the draft giving them no other option during that time. Individuals who were able to evade the draft either went to college or were draft dodgers–those who left the country during that time period. Most minorities were not able to go to college due to financial, cultural, or other reasons, nor could most of them travel outside the country. Their only options were to become Conscientious objectors or go to a War and fight for a country that was not fighting for them.
On another note, but sticking with MLK’s speech, I enjoyed his imagery of “The Family” and “The Village”. Has this country, and New York city especially, become too heterogeneous that we lost family/village core values? We have allowed so many different cultures to assimilate that we forget how to accept everyone equally. I think “The Village” represents our own safe zone, a place where we can be our true self, in our most simple state. We are undaunted and unaffected by external causes in our villages. “The Family” refers to culture homogeneity among individuals in small neighborhoods. It also refers to the cultural appropriation in this country which unfortunately destroys any sort of togetherness we have in this country as a whole “Family”.
Jerome Krase
March 13, 2017 — 3:36 pm
Yes, some neighborhoods are like villages and some of our closest groups, if not family, feel like one. As comfortable as they might be however, they are not automatically bastions of morality. Some people have argued that breaking away from “traditional” values is an improvement on retaining and defending them. In my opinion the value itself must be interrogated before deciding its positive or negative worth. And then again, good for whom?