King Day Book Report

The King Day celebration happened at Harbach Theater at the CFA on January 16, 2017. This event was meant to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and act as a remembrance for all the work he did and all the work that still needed to be done. The event showcased the Knox College Choir and additional singers, speeches from Laura Behling, Professor Konrad, Professor Shabazz, Professor Fequiere, President Amott, and two students who did poetry. The speeches given by Professor Konrad and Professor Shabazz were very well put together and opened my mind to what and how Martin Luther King impacted the world I live in now. The greater impact I received during the convocation had definitely been Professor Shabazz’s talk on the
I do not mean to take away from their story, but I am beginning to understand how it might feel to be in their shoes. For example, as a cis-gender male, I am overly conscious of how I act around women I first meet around my gender. I need to always be conscious of how I was acting and how I looked like to other people. I don’t want to be labelled as someone with ulterior motives so I need to make it very clear that I’m just a human being who wants to be friends with people. This was the clearest way I could understand how double consciousness worked for black people. Double consciousness to me is like watching a film of yourself and making sure that everything you do cannot be misconstrued as something else. How about for white people? Can any small act they do be misconstrued as oppression against other races? Of course there are explicitly racist things people can do, but does having to make sure there is a filter for words that might sound racist a form of double consciousness? Does having to hide preferences for different hair styles or skin tones a form of double consciousness? The latter question comes from when my one friend, who happens to be a black American, was called out for merely having a preference for specific hairstyles. At its core, double consciousness relies a lot on the viewing party attempting to “read between the lines” of certain actions. It could
I’ll never forget how either Konrad or Shabazz talked about how Donald Trump was actually a blessing in disguise. I agree with how he said that we had grown complacent. Society had gotten too used to the status quo and was too satisfied with what had been accomplished so far. As Marx stated, conflict theory can and will lead to social change. The inauguration of Trump will undoubtedly cause social change so long people and society calls for it. I’ve noticed that the last couple years have changed the way people acted. Although the US was able to accomplish monumental moments such as gay marriage and more, anger has grown to make sure that those changes stay. With the appearance of a president whose ideals are completely different from those who support social liberties and focus on respect, group polarization will go hand-in-hand with the conflict theory. Now that the republicans have the high power in the government, the people (most liberals) who have the lesser power will clash with them. This clashing will hopefully open up communication between both of the groups and lead to change in the future. It is uncertain what type of future we will see because social change can easily be in favor of one group over the