On August 28, 1963, during a rally, Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The theme of the rally was to protest black American’s who were denied their rights. I have been in a situation where a black American was denied his rights, and I was lucky enough to be able to give him back some rights and even earn him some extras. I was in second grade and there was a new student named Jake in our class. He was a polite kid, but he was rather quiet and shy. Jake also happened to be African-American.
One afternoon, during recess, our class decided to play a game by the name of “Red Rover”. The main object of the game was to form to lines opposite, yet parallel, to each other, and have everyone in the two lines hold hands. One person is sent from each line is sent to the other line, where they must try to break through two peoples held hands. Jake turned out to be on my line. There was an awkward moment when no one wanted to hold Jake’s hand. Each child just stood there, wringing their hands, but not touching Jake’s. This act filled my heart with anger.. How could they do this to him? How could they judge him like this without knowing him? I could see he was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so I held his right hand and my friend grabbed his left hand. Now we had two lines formed. The first person to try and break through me and Jake’s hand was a guy named John. He was a large kid and was known to break through the hands easily. John, gathered all his strength, and ran to our side. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as he came closer. He slammed into our hands with vigor, but did not tear our hands apart. Our line cheered, and I saw Jake’s face flush with pleasure.
It came as a surprise to most, but I knew within that Jake would keep strong. The others had thought that just because he was African-American he couldn’t play as well or that he would cheat. They were judging him without knowing him at all. After then, Jake was treated the same as everyone else. Not only that, but for every other game of “Red Rover” we played from then on, everyone wanted Jake on their line.
That was a day that Dr. Martin Luther King would have been proud, for his dream had come true. He had said “I have a dream that one day whites and blacks will be treated equally”, and that day they were. In conclusion, even though I was only in second grade, I felt strongly about equal rights. I made a difference in someone’s life and I believe that if you take a stand, so can you!