Martin Luther king’s Speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it reflects the main problems and social issues affected modern society. In spite of great changes in social life and human rights, racial prejudices and stereotypes are common things in our society.
This situation threatens national unity and prevents close relations between people and neighbors, colleagues and relatives.
Thesis Speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it supports equality and social values and raise personal and social awareness of the problems the society has not been able to solve.
The speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it vividly portrays social problems and personal grievances of the 21st century. “God’s children will be able to sing … sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing” (King, 293).
This process is a necessity for both survival and quick decision making. Discerning differences can occur on a conscious or unconscious level. Most of people have learned or have been conditioned to believe that not all differences are equal in meaning, importance, and salience.
Hair color, height, and weight are often less important than skin color, which is extremely salient in our society. In the case of stereotypes, it has been found that you tend to group differences that relate most to cherished values that you hold.
The speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it creates and visualizes a dream the society has not achieved yet. King states: I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (King, 293). The danger of stereotypes is that they are impervious to logic or experience.
All incoming information is distorted to fit your biased belief system. For example, people who are strongly anti-Semitic will accuse Jews of being stingy and miserly and then in the same breath accuse them of flaunting their wealth by conspicuous spending.
Or a person who believes that African Americans are intellectually inferior and meets a highly intelligent Black person may rationalize away the contradiction by thinking that he or she is an exception.
Despite the fact that anthropologists warn us that judgments of cultural evolution are value laden, many people continue to view American Indians or African society as primitive, uncouth, and uncivilized; therefore its members are also “savages.” Part of the mechanism used to feel good about yourself includes believing that you are unique and then exaggerating your “good features, ” while minimizing these desirable traits in other groups.
In sum, the speech, “I Have a Dream” is still relevant today because it vividly portrays social problems and personal grievances of the modern generations, it visualizes a dream the society has not achieved yet. This speech appeals to many people because it shows that stereotypes are wrong but they are a part of modern life. “All men are created equal” (King, 492) but they are not socially, and politically equal.
Works Cited
King, M.L. “I have a Dream”, Chapter 9. Prentice Hall Reader, 2001. pp.290-294.