Martin Luther King Black And White Analysis

Martin Luther King Jr, one of the biggest impacts the world has ever had on racism said in one of his speeches, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr just wanted peace and equality in the world and by doing so he came up with these inspirational quotes that a lot of people live by today. In the story black and white by David Macaulay peace and equality isn't really the case when Marcus and Eddie, two teenagers decide to do stickups and accidently shoot a black male bus driver. Marcus is accused of doing the shooting because the color of his skin and as a result his career takes a turn for the worse. It just goes to show that people should not be treated poorly because of their differences.
Marcus a kind and great student athlete, has to endure some racist acts that leave him …show more content…
Eddie unintentionally shot the man and the police very quickly assume Marcus being the shooter because he is black and Marcus is white. Marcus’s mother was trying to explain to Marcus that he needs to tell the police Eddie was the shooter, but Marcus was being a loyal, true friend and didn’t want to tell the police Marcus’s mother said to her son in the attempt to persuade him into reveal Eddie as the shooter “It’s black and white until somebody’s ass is on the line. And when it’s time to go to jail, it’s just black”.(71) This was said after the police left Marcus’s house explaining to him that he is going to jail. This relates to the theme because Marcus is being accused of shooting a bus driver when he never did. Marcus in this case is being treated differently because the color of his skin. As a result, he is going to jail for something he didn’t do. The message the author is telling us is just because someone has a different color skin than you doesn’t mean you can accuse them for something they didn’t