Acceptance Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King IMAGINING A PRESENT DAY NOBLE PEACE PRIZE SPEECH BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING The objective of this study is to imagine that if Dr. Martin Luther King were to win the noble peace prize today what he would say in his acceptance speech. This study will consider his ideals and principles when creating the speech as well as consider his noble peace prize acceptance speech decades ago. The Speech Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr.

President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: I accept the Noble Prize for Peace at a time when the first Black man is in the office of presidency of the United States and when the United States of America faces threats such as ISIS focused on destruction of our citizens, our Homeland, and our Democracy. The dangers we face in today's society is one that is not racially-based but instead one that targets our civil liberties and constitutional rights.

This threat is perpetrated not by those of other countries or forms of government but is a threat that comes from within and is arises from militarization of the police and law enforcement agencies in this country. Over the past few decades, police and law enforcement has gunned down innocent citizens who are unarmed and killed them without cause. The most recent example is the case of Ferguson in which 18-year-old Michael Brown, a young black man was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson.

The nights of looting that followed the incident, while rightly questioned by the American public contrasts starkly to the harsh police actions that included tear gas, rubber bullets and police dogs all showing a high level of disrespect by police officers for minorities in the low-income sector of society. Today, there is a disparity of black men in the country's prisons and the majority of these individuals are incarcerated for drug crimes, drug crimes, I repeat.

They are not incarcerated for murder, rape, robbery or even theft but because they were caught using some type of drug. While I do not advocate for drugs at the same time I feel that incarceration of individuals for using drugs is a waste of taxpayer money and additionally has served to tear down the foundations of the nation by tearing down families and communities. Many children in this country are without parents because they are serving time for using a drug.

There are better ways to deal with these problems that to tear apart families and communities. Today's drug courts are successful and yet judges continue to send men and women to the privatized prisons that house the incarcerated population in the United States of America. These prisons are paid for filling beds and naturally they are the greatest supporters of incarcerating individuals for drug crimes. However, it is time for the U.S.

justice system and the American population to realize that incarceration of people for using drugs is not only not working it is pitifully failing our country, our communities and the homes in which today's children, the promise of tomorrow live. Changes are needed in today's system that values profit over human lives that values harsh incarceration of drug users rather than substance abuse and addiction treatment. Our U.S. Constitution, the very.