Age Discrimination and the King Legacy

German Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche once noted that “nothing is more democratic than logic; it is no respecter of persons and makes no distinction between crooked and straight noses,” (Renaut 1997, p. 98). Nietzsche argues that logic defies bias and discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, and one thousand other negligible variables. Civil Rights activist and Christian minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. well knew and understood herd thinking, in which we discriminate against those who are outside of our own groups. In fact, research has shown that from a very small age, children have the ability to display prejudicial preference over people who are similar to them than those who are different.

When I was a teenager, I was anxious to start earning some money. My first job was at McDonald's. I experienced the worst age discrimination of my life. During the interview, I was not taken seriously. The manager didn’t expect me to be responsible about committing to shifts I signed up for and gave me a hard time about scheduling shifts around my after school programs. Of course, she knew and understood that I was a high school student but set up unnecessary obstacles rather than accommodate my special situation. I felt rejected and continually disappointed because of the way I was treated.

On a natural, instinctual level people may be able to demonstrate bias from the age of nine months, which researchers say may be a survival skill that naturally causes infants to prefer those who “belong to the group they interact with most” (Parry 2012). Malcolm X really understood this about people and for much of his activist career, he advocated a separate status for black and whites, he did not purport that these groups could learn to get along. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the other hand, believed that people lacked understanding and that they could and would learn to love one another and view each other as equals. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both wrong in their estimations about race relations. Malcolm X was wrong because he wrongly believed that the races could never mingle. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that hate, bias, and prejudice were learned. New research shows, however, that bias may be engrained (Parry 2012; Malcolm X: Speeches and Interviews (1960-65); Martin Luther King - I Have a Dream on August 28, 1963).

In summation, discrimination allows one group to identify another as inferior, less skilled and worse. Society has long found ways to exclude “others” and probably always will, however, that doesn’t mean that King’s legacy is empty. King taught many to aspire to racial unity and to avoid hate and discrimination.

Works Cited

Freeman, David. "Racist Babies? Nine-Month-Olds Show Bias When Looking At Faces, Study Shows." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 May 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/racist-babies-nine-month-olds-bias-faces_n_1477937.html>.

"Malcolm X: Speeches and Interviews (1960-65)." YouTube. N.p., 9 July 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9AmuYqjRyg>.

"Martin Luther King - I Have a Dream on August 28, 1963 [Sous-titres & Subtitles] [FULL SPEECH]." YouTube. YouTube, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRIF4_WzU1w.