This famous quote at the top was said by a very admired man who was a revolutionary who fought for what is the privilege and freedom every man and woman in this country has the right to. You guessed it, he is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Something that most of us know about him is that he was a peaceful protestor. Whether you agree with his way of thinking of being revengeful or not, anyone could still admire how resilient to his values he was in the face of such adversity. So is this another article about Martin Luther King’s achievements against racism? Not really. This article is about one day that led Martin Luther King Jr. to become the man he was. This story begins when he was a teenager just like us!
Our story starts when Martin (known as ML by family and a few friends) was 15. King was coming home from an oratorical, a public speaking competition. Him, a friend of his named Hiram, and his teacher Mrs. Bradley had traveled 140 miles to get to the competition and was now traveling back another 140 miles. They were free to sit wherever they pleased so he and the other kid sat close to the front.
After an hour of sitting on the seats minding their own business the bus stopped at the city of Macon. Little did King know this stop would change him forever. The bus started crowding with more passengers and for the purpose of this story it is important to note these were Caucasian/white. As soon as there were no more seats and white passengers were left standing in the aisle, the driver got up and stared at King and Hiram. At first they stayed in their seats. Soon enough the situation went from bad to absolutely horrible. The bus driver became desperate and started cursing out two kids for refusing to be treated as less than any human being. He got very aggressive and used words that are too appalling to even mention.
His teacher stepped in to calm the situation and “fix it.” She tried coaxing him and she advised him to go back saying it was the law. He was angered and with good reason. His speech was a call to action on equal rights and to see that could just be called a fantasy, or a kid with a big imagination made him feel powerless. Unfair as it was, when he realized the bus wouldn’t move until he rose and gave up his seat and that he was catching a lot of attention, he got up, grabbed a handle on the bus and stood up the remaining 90 miles. Many years later, recalling this incident still set a fire in him.
For him it wasn’t just his tired body, it was his tired soul. He was a bit frustrated with Mrs. Bradley but what overtook him was the shame. He had never felt anger in such a way as he did that night. A thought popped into his head, one every person that has had breath has felt. “You’re nobody.”
We see this quote above today and realize that some of the greatest have at some point felt lost and defeated. Alone and feeling like they didn’t belong. As we can see, the anger King had inside him that night was put to good use. He had two options: accept the label of being nobody as if it was a gift or fight to be somebody to the world but most importantly to yourself. As Muhammed Ali said “Don’t quit.” Keep fighting.
For more information about King feel free to visit this website https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/young-martin-luther-king-jr/552512/