Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Alicia Garza are the leaders of anti-racist black movements, but their styles as speakers, behavior, ideals, and audiences are different and similar. Alicia Garza’s Keynote at CitizenUCon16 clearly highlighted the message inherent in her movement. Marxist, in many ways, radical and aggressive messages about the racial and social problems of the current American society. Although Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech sounds direct, on the contrary, it is devoid of Garza’s aggression and harshness (Alicia Garza Keynote at CitizenUCon16, 2016). A master of words, a preacher, and a fighter for the equality of people before God and the law, King speaks with hope for a better future for the world and the nation.
Garza’s character as a media personality is very different from King’s. They are both leaders of their people and their political supporters. However, Garza is a controversial figure even within his target audience. Many African Americans find her insincere and suspect her of exploiting the narrative, which is emphasized by general left-wing radicalism (Alicia Garza Keynote at CitizenUCon16, 2016). King, like any significant person, had supporters and opponents, but his narrative, ideas, and speech were directed in a different directions. King’s opponents who might argue with his grand dream speech are predominantly racist, based on how public and humane his speech was. Garza’s speeches can cause controversy due to various factors, mainly an ambiguous social meaning that goes beyond the fight against racism.
However, there is a similarity between the two leaders, and it is vital. In particular, the general position of the struggle for social equality. In addition to the obvious social factors that bring Garza and King closer together, it is also important to note the background. Both of them are leaders of their political groups. King had a flock as a preacher, and Garza was a union leader. The differences, as noted above, are weighty to the same extent as the similarities, if not more. Garza is a left-wing activist who speaks from a position of both racial and class oppression. In his views, King was conservative by modern standards (Martin Luther King – I Have a Dream Speech – August 28, 1963, 2011). As a believer, he saw the difference between the struggle for the equality of people before God and the law and more material factors.
Dr. King’s speech was given in a church and at the Lincoln Memorial, whereas today, we have social media and more opportunities for messaging. Furthermore, this is a significant difference because we are talking about a different level of immersion of people in the discourse and their proximity to the speaker’s personality. King spoke to his men in person, speaking to them as an equal (Ihsan, 2018). Garza separates himself from his followers as a leader and an influencer. As an internet figure, she relies heavily on advertising and hype rather than her personality, body language, and other things.
The audience is also essential in the discussion of two speeches and speakers. Garza draws on today’s young people who are part of the internet and are positively and negatively influenced. Strong statements, memes, hashtags, all this, and much more is the primary tool of the modern influencer. Ambiguity only emphasizes these methods, which are often not suitable for discourse. Radicalization and harshness in the course of confrontation can lead to violence, aggression, and other consequences harmful to the movement. In turn, King’s audience is people of the mid-twentieth century (Ihsan, 2018). These are workers and entrepreneurs, family people, primarily adults, and having a harrowing experience of real oppression, open and unhidden. King’s audience felt racism in every moment of his life because such was his pervasive influence in their time. Dr. King’s audience is people who strive for freedom and believe in a free future for their children. These factors dramatically distinguish them from Garza’s audience, which mostly encounters racism only from rare institutional and social marginals. Summarizing, both Garza and Dr. King were great speakers and leaders of their time and people, having much in common and differences from each other.
References
Alicia Garza Keynote at CitizenUCon16. (2016). [Video]. YouTube.
Ihsan, M. D. (2018). Repetition values on Martin Luther King Jr. Speech. JEES (Journal of English Educators Society), 3(2), 178–188.
Martin Luther King – I have a dream speech – August 28, 1963. (2011). [Video]. YouTube.