Social movements are largely associated with their leaders, who represent the desires for change that needs to be made. Charisma and leadership skills are key to make individuals succeed or fail to convey their messages to the general public. Two leaders to be compared in this paper are Martin Luther King Jr., who was the leader of the movement for black rights, and Alicia Garza – the founding member of Black Lives Matter.
In Dr. King’s speech, he speaks about his vision of the future for black people. His speech is filled with faith-based rhetoric, asserting it to be not only human but divine right for individuals to be equal (Rare Facts, 2017). In his vision, individuals of all colors and racial backgrounds would live in the USA of tomorrow as equals, instead of being oppressed. Alicia Garza’s speech is focused on what is happening now, rather than a vision of tomorrow (Center for Constitutional Rights, 2015). She offers facts about how black people and especially women are oppressed in today’s white male-dominated society, how they earn less, die more, and get put into prisons more, among other things. Her speech concludes with an affirmation of who BLM are and what they stand for.
When comparing Dr. King and Alicia Garza, it is possible to see that King is a much more experienced speaker. He is used to talking to a greater audience, and has a greater baggage of hands-on experience to rely upon. His voice is booming and offers gravitas, with the first part of the speech sounding like a saga, of sorts, whereas the second one slowly induces a rousing emotion out of everyone listening to it (Rare Facts, 2017). Alicia Garza’s speech seeks to inform the public first and foremost. It is full of facts and statistics, and she appears to struggle to keep all the numbers in her mind. She keeps referring to her notes to refresh her memory (Center for Constitutional Rights, 2015). Her passion is visible in her voice, and can be seen through her actions, but overall, she gives the impression of a student giving a presentation in front of a class. Although they both speak to a predominantly black and allied audience, a notable exception is that King’s speech focuses on men, while Garza’s – on women.
The location chosen by Dr. King was a church at the Lincoln Memorial. It was a symbolic place for several reasons – first, it offered a sense of discipline and protection due to it being a place of faith. Second, it helped convey the message in two ways, by referring to Lincoln’s fight to free the slaves, and to the God’s will that all men were created equal (Greenberg & Page, 2020). Alicia’s Garza’s location looks like a place for a TED Talk, there is nothing particularly special about it. However, Alicia has the advantage of social media to spread the message, which diminishes the importance of location for gathering people and spreading the message.
Both speeches relate well to the audience they are performed for. King’s speech was witnessed not only by blacks, but also by whites and Hispanics, who felt the same about their plight. He encompassed them all as one nation under God. Alicia Garza’s words aimed predominantly at black people (Center for Constitutional Rights, 2015). It was educative in what institutional and systematic injustices they are facing, and calls for those people to join their fight against injustice worldwide. Overall, these two speeches had a different purpose to themselves – King’s was a rallying cry across the entire nation, whereas Garza’s was one of many speeches in an ongoing campaign for BLM.
References
Center for Constitutional Rights. (2015). RadTalks: Alicia Garza. YouTube.
Greenberg, E. S., & Page, B. I. (2020). The struggle for democracy, 2018 elections and updates edition. Pearson.
Rare Facts. (2017). I have a dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr. HD. YouTube.