Mad About Movies -Winter 2014.1: Martin Luther King, Jr.

[DavidC]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
-Thomas Jefferson

In many speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., interprets these words as a promise that he demanded the American government fulfill. In his I HAVE A DREAM speech, he uses the metaphor of a check to describe that promise:

“In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check,” he says in the introduction of his speech. And he accuses the United States of not fulfilling its debts when it comes to the question of racial justice. "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'”

PLEASE RESPOND TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

I: When you think of the history of your own culture, can you identify any similar discrepancy between its aspirations and the on-the-street experience of the people?

II: What is one defining aspiration -- such as equality in America -- in your culture that gives you pride or inspires you in some way?

(Don't think too much; write from your heart.)

[luis1980]

A defining aspiring moment that makes me proud of my country was in 1992, when thousands of people went to the streets with painted faces of yellow and green to ask for the impeachment of the president of the country, Fernando Collor. At that time, the president was being investigated by corruption and some illegal acts, such as the confiscation of people's saving accounts. Then, his own brother Pedro Collor reported publicly against him in a famous Brazilian magazine. Thus, in September 18, more than 750,000 people went to the streets of São Paulo, to protest and ask for the president's impeachment. In september 29, the president's impeachment was voted and agreed by the majority of congressmen in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. So, I can say that in a democratic nation, people have the power to elect and not elect any one who does not follow democratic ideas, robs and deceives people. Even today in Brazil, people are awake and alert by going to streets to protest, fight for their ideals and for a better country.

Luís Ferdinando.

[Tony4571]

One defining aspiration that makes me so proud of my country, Brazil, was the promulgation of the latest and current Constitution in 1988, censored as one of the most advanced and complete in the world concerning Democracy, after
almost two years of discussion, by a constituent assembly, which gave Brazilians the most powerful and legal means
or instrument to garantee the democratic rights and political freedom in an actual way. These rights included among
many things: the errand of injunction, the habeas data, the consumer's defense code, the children and youth codes -
both enacted in 1990 - the new civil code, the delimitations of the indigenous people, the universal vote, freedom of
the press, minimum salary, worker's rights and the unemployment insurance.
Although Brazilian people have still been suffering til today serious problems of political corruption which have been
preventing the public money from being legally invested in the implementation of programs aimed to fulfil people's
aspirations and necessities, recent national big demonstrations on the streets have caused the federal government,
which is divided into executive, legislative and judicial powers, to take stricter and urgent measures to fight against
the politicians' misconduct, especially the fraudulent use of the public money on their own concerns and benefits.

Nivaldo A. de Jesus

[Francisco1975]

One of the most terrifying injustices of the history of humanity was slavery. And my country was one of the last country to abolish this practice. There were lots of people who gave support to the abolition, like artists, poets , religious people, but brazilian society was too selfish and hippocritical to understand that a new time was coming to the world. Only in 1889 slavery in Brazil was abolished. But before that many african-brazilians escaped from the farms where they worked and founded what was called "Quilombos": A place where they lived in freedom and could build their own society. But most of the time, the government police chased them and distroyed the place and killed all of them. One of the most famous Quilombos in Brazil was the one called Palmares, founded by a refugee slave called Zumbi. This quilombo resisted for many years and grew just like a big city until it was finally destroyed by the government police. Now Zumbi is considered ao hero of the brazilian black resistance and there is a day dedicated to him as the one of Dr. Martin Luther King.

[HashimSH95]

A defining aspiring moment that makes me proud of my country is how helpful it is to its people. I have a full scholarship thanks to my country Kuwait. Not many people have that privilege. It is a lot of money yet they still support me and thousands of other students. This is a great gift that i will never forget in my life because without my country i would not be here right now. I am very happy and proud of Kuwait.

[ZHENYA0125]

Slavery in my beautiful country (Russia), Francisco, was banned a bit earlier than in your country, in1861. However, todays, more than 150 years later, people in Russia still have more than enough reasons to fight for their rights. In spite of the fact that the Paper ( Constitution) is not bad so far( there is unpleasant trend; it seems going to become weaker with adding more and more prohibitions, restrictions, limitations), reallity is different.
I'm confused to specify what makes me really proud of modern Russian history, say, during last 20 years. What is remarkable, we've had a lot of changes for a short time. Sometimes we make one serious step very quickly, which is hopeful, and then - two steps back, which is sad.
So it's a challenge to describe my feeling in two words, it's complex. I'm defenitely proud of people who live and lived in my country, people who won the Second World War. Soviet Union ( including Russia and other14 republics) lost approximately 27 million people!!!!! Every family was hurt. That pain is passed genetically from generation to generation. I cannot be proud of that imperealistic government which allowed to kill so many people, even more, which killed own citizens and has never said sorry after. Till now. The current governement has been using that historical fact ( victory) for some last years as a propaganda and as a synthetical way to unify nation making big parades and selebrations. It's annoying. If the current government analyzes, says truth, says sorry and starts caring for every citizen (instead of organizing huge parades and olimpiads), I WOULD BE PROUD OF IT. It's my personal oppinion and dream. Otherwise, we can never approach to better life in all meanings.

[Agnes1988]

Since 1815, my country, Switzerland, is considered like neutral country. In fact, Switzerland can't go against any country. My country can just defend.
For me, this principle of neutrality is like peace symbol.

[Amy1735]

n Taiwan, I wanna talk about the on- the-street experience of the gay people who speak out for their right. Even though it's not exactly the same idea like the aspirations we are talking about in the class. However, from 2003 in Taiwan, I've heard about some parades which the gay people make a lot of effort for same-sex marriage. Taiwan Pride is the annual gay pride parade in Taiwan. The parade was first held in 2003. Although joined by groups from all over the country, the primary location has always been the city of Taipei. The most recent parade, held in October 2012, attracted more than 65,000 participants, making it one of the largest gay pride events in Asia. Even though I haven't had chance to participate it, I'm glad to see the change from the beginning to now.
The evolution and demonstration not only represented the awareness of human right on same-sex marriage, but also showed how the traditional social value had adjusted the global issues.
In my opinion, I think everyone shall try to understand the discrepancy and learn to respect them, not just criticize them. In other words, some people might think it's not good for children metal development and they might grow up in a chaotic world. But what if someday in the future, what would you think/do if you find out your children they are gay?? Would you criticize or exclude them? I think the answer is in everyone's heart.