11 People to Think About on MLK, Jr. Day

From the Editor In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and only a few weeks away from Black History Month, our first post of the year is about modern black men and women whose names you should know. Some stood side by side with MLK, Jr., while others are fighting for equality today. Some dedicated their lives to civil rights, some made memorable stands in the name of justice, and some are shattering barriers just by achieving in their fields.

Amandla Stenberg You probably know her as Rue in The Hunger Games, but this 17-year-old actress and activist is much more than that. She made headlines last year for calling out Kylie Jenner for wearing cornrows– a hairstyle that originated in black culture- and she has used social media to educate others about cultural appropriation. She is TeenVogue’s February 2016 cover girl and has a large social media following. In her video “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows,” Amandla explains that “appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated but is deemed as high-fashion, cool or funny when the privileged take it for themselves.” She asks the question “What America be like if we loved black people as much as we love black culture?”

Ruby Bridges                          In 1960, Bridges was a sweet, smart 6-year-old who had proven her aptitude to enter an all-white school; when she did so, becoming the first African-American to enter an all-white school in the South, she faced terrible backlash. Since then, she has dedicated her life to fighting racism.   Marilyn Mosby

On May 1st, 2015, Mosby, Baltimore’s city attorney, charged six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, who died while in police custody in April 2015. Coming from a family of police officers, and after many police brutality cases where police officers escaped without a charge, it took a lot of guts for Mosby to do her job. She saw nothing special in what she did, saying, “I’m not conflicted about charging these police officers. I believe in applying justice fairly and equally, and that is what our system is built upon.”         

Ava DuVernay DuVernay is a director and screenwriter who has shattered a lot of glass ceilings in her career. She was the first black woman to win Best Director as Sundance, which she did with her second feature film Middle of Nowhere in 2012, and she was the first black woman director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. That was for Selma, a film about one of MLK, Jr.’s legendary marches, at last year’s Oscars.       Margaret Walker

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1915, Walker overcame her circumstances to attend Northwestern University, attain a PhD, teach literature at the college level for 30 years, be a part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, and write award-winning poems and novels about slavery. In her most famous poem “For My People,” she writes

Coretta Scott King Everyone knows her husband, but not everyone knows Coretta. After MLK, Jr.’s assassination, she did not fall to the wayside- she stood up to take his place. She was a prominent leader of the civil rights, women’s, and LGBT movements up until her death in 2006. She pushed for the establishment of today’s holiday as a way to commemorate the work her husband did.      

John Lewis Lewis was one of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement alongside MLK, Jr. (DuVernay’s film Selma involves Lewis as a character), and he risked his life by participating in sit-ins and the 1961 Freedom Rides. Since he joined Congress in 1987, he has continued to fight for racial equality. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Looking back on his experience, he said, “It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something.”  

Rosa Clemente  Clemente is a journalist, 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate, and community organizer who focuses on making the voices of young people of color heard. She created the National Hip-Hop Convention in 2003, bringing together 3000 activists of the “hip-hop generation,” and she worked with the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015.   Nina Simone

Nina Simone was an incredibly talented jazz, blues, and folk artist who was “the voice of the civil rights movement” of the ’60s. She went to Juilliard on scholarship for classical piano but had to leave for monetary reasons. That didn’t matter, though, as she rose to fame anyway, and her songs became anthems for civil rights. She was an inspiration for artists from Aretha Franklin to Joni Mitchell. A Netflix documentary about her life called What Happened, Miss Simone? is nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Oscars.  

Barack Obama                           After Obama was elected President in 2008, John Lewis, who is also on this list, said, “When we were organizing voter-registration drives, going on the Freedom Rides, sitting in, coming here to Washington for the first time, getting arrested, going to jail, being beaten, I never thought—I never dreamed—of the possibility that an African American would one day be elected president of the United States.” Whether or not you agree with his decisions or like him as President, it’s important to remember that he went somewhere black men and women would never have dreamed about a few generations ago: the White House. He did not eradicate racism with that move, but he took an important step. When his term ends in November, that is something that will stay in the history books.   Members of the Black Lives Matter Movement

It is controversial, of course, but change always is. No one likes change- except those who are oppressed. This movement began on Twitter after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in shooting death of Trayvon Martin. BLM, which has no set structure or central leadership, now campaigns internationally against violence against black people, focusing mostly on police brutality and inequality in the U.S. Justice System. Activists have now begun to put pressure on 2016 Presidential candidates to state their positions on these issues.     Editor’s Note: The Buzz hopes that, in 2016 is a year in which the nation advances in terms of racial equality and justice rather than taking steps back. We hope that you think about men and women like these when you need hope or inspiration in the coming year.