Future public leaders should share and continue King’s dream

In light of Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday, we should not only take into consideration how far our nation has come in terms of equal human rights, but we should also come to the realization that today’s public leaders have the power to either continue or revert the progress that Martin Luther King Jr. has made towards our nation’s acceptance of diversity.

King is remembered for the way he initiated change in how Americans of all ethnicities see each other. It can be argued that Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, who continues to remain a very influential public figure, fails to view and accept his country as the diverse nation that King strived for.

King will live on through his legacy of having a dream for America to “rise up and live out of the true meaning of its creed: all men are created equal.” On the other end of the spectrum, Trump began his campaign by saying that most illegal Mexican immigrants are rapists, drug dealers and criminals. He supported his stance on illegal immigrants by making his main goal to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country.
Not only is his stance on these immigrants highly judgmental, but his approach to build a wall can be seen as an inhumane and reactive approach to a solution that could be much more proactive. King had the hope for children to not be judged by the color of their skin, but of their character. The argument that supports King’s dream of equality while contradicting many of Trump’s remarks during his campaign is that all citizens of the United States come from immigrants.

Many people say Trump is valuable because he speaks his mind; however, having a political leader who speaks their mind doesn’t define someone as an effective leader. King spoke his mind and shared his dream of equality among all people and by doing so he was able to make positive changes that have affected our everyday lives. Trump, on the other hand, continues to make publicized remarks such as calling a fellow candidate “disgusting” for taking a bathroom break and describing some women y using the words “fat pigs,” “dogs,” and “slobs.” For someone in the public eye, especially someone with the intent of being President of the United States, we have to consider what the repercussions would be if our country was led by someone who expresses such mindsets as Trump.

King proved this by leaving his mark on our nation and helping us to become a progressively more accepting and equal country. Any public figure has the power to continue, improve or revert the progress that leaders before them have made. Since Trump is also a relevant public figure with the potential of leading our country, our country has the possibility to go in the opposite direction that King worked so hard to achieve.

The fight for equal human rights continues to be more common, but we should continue down that course instead of fueling views that completely go in the other direction. We have worked hard to get to the point we’re at, but we shouldn’t stop there and we definitely shouldn’t revert back to close-mindedness.

While we remember the hard work that King put into making this country becoming a more ethnically accepting nation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we still have to remember to move forward with his way of thinking rather than fueling views in the opposite direction.