Social Justice In Martin Luther King's 'I' Ve Been To The Mountaintop

In the speech “I’ve been to the Mountaintop,” written by Martin Luther King Junior, King connects economic justice with racial justice. King does this when he says, “Now we’re going to march again, and we’ve got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God’s children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out” (Page 3). King is connecting both economic justice with racial justice when he includes the fact that many black people are starting to starve. This is because, black people were given low-paying jobs because of the color of their skin. This discrimination shows a

For example, as King states, “We are choosing these companies because they haven’t been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike” (Page 5). King is saying that if black workers boycott the businesses that refuse to hire them, those businesses will lose business. If they lose business, they will be willing to do anything to help their company thrive. Even if that means supporting racial justice, something they may not be in favor of. This economic justice would lead to the advance of the cause of racial justice. Economic justice would also strengthen black institutions, according to King. King says, “But not only that, we’ve got to strengthen black institutions [...]” (Page 5). By strengthening black institutions, the average man would be able to see how intelligent, and hard-working blacks truly are. If white men see that the blacks are capable of producing something so time-managing such as their own institutions, it would urge them to fight for racial justice, and show that black people can do so much more than what they are limited to