Martin Luther King Jr. continued leading protests and giving inspirational speeches across the U.S. to help increase the opportunities of African Americans, but some people disliked how Dr. King had impacted society. Some people feared the new changes in society because they began to lose their power over the oppressed African Americans. In one of his speeches, Dr. King asserted that even though he had greatly impacted society in the last few years, many others could take his place and continue the fight against racial discrimination. He also clarified the main conflict that divided the nation by saying, “The tension in this city is not between white people and Negro people. The tension is between justice and injustice” (King, Jackson, & Carson, 2015, p. 103). Dr. King influenced a group a of …show more content…
The next day on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. died. His assassination instigated hundreds of riots in the United States, and many people mourned for the death of the man who gave them a dream (Blinder, 2017).
Martin Luther King Jr. left his legacy in American society through the fight against prejudice, the pursuit of justice, and the use of nonviolent resistance. Dr. King influenced many movements and protests aimed to eradicate injustice that are occurring today in our society. One of today’s movements, Black Lives Matter, seeks to eliminate racism, racial inequality, and police brutality towards African Americans. Black Lives Matter initiated in 2013 when a white police officer shot an unarmed African American teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Ferguson, Missouri. When the judge declared the police officer, George Zimmerman, not guilty, many African Americans marched on the streets because it seemed as if the life of an African American did not