The speech “It’s Time to Come Together,” presented by Angela Y. Robinson in the Campus Center Ballroom, Jan. 17, 2013, was inspiring and thought-provoking.
The part of the speech that I enjoyed the most was when Robinson mentioned that we should all come together and continue Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy for equality for all races and all types of people. I agree with that statement because I believe King wants us to carry out the dreams that he had for our nation and would love to see them come true.
“I believe that we should all come together,” as Robinson said in her speech, “in order to have a better society.” To me, unity is important and much needed in our world. There is so much hate and violence that one can only wonder where the good is in all of this madness.
There is so much going on around us that we forget to stop and take a look around. We’re so focused on daily activities and ourselves that we don’t stop to help those around us who are in need. Thousands of people are suffering right now and no one seems to care about them. We simply turn the other cheek and refuse to take responsibility for what is around us.
King, along with other Civil Rights activists, fought for us to have the right to vote and end segregation, yet, looking around, how did we repay them? I don’t think we are holding up his legacy as well as we should. We are doing a very crappy job to say the least. I think if he were here now, he’d probably be quite disappointed in us.
Now that we have freedom, or a portion of it, we take it for granted. I don’t think that we fully realize what we have and what the many Civil Rights leaders worked towards all those years ago. They risked their lives for us and all we have done is sat on our butts watching the Real Housewives. We have become so lazy nowadays that we can’t even do things the old fashioned way. Everything has been done for us.
We have a lot of growing up to do and don’t even realize it. Something has to change. A lot of things have to change, really. There has to be a limit to what we can tolerate as a nation. Turing our eyes away or covering up our ears won’t make our issues go away. Regardless, they will still be there.
It’s up to us to make a change and to stand up for what is right. I think we have to fight for what is right instead of accepting what is wrong. As Americans, it’s our duty to make our home a better place for everyone no matter where they come from and who they are.
We simply have to do better and I think that we should make the choice to do better.
