ERS Play Reads: I am Martin Luther King Jr

Hello reading friends, my name is Kalina and today I'm with ers

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for story time. Let's learn about the great Dr. Martin Luther King. Today's book is called I Am Martin Luther King Jr. It is written by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Aliopoulos. Alright guys, ready to learn, come on, I'm Martin Luther King Jr, written by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos. I'm Martin Luther King Jr. When I was little I used to have a lot of accidents, one day my little brother hit me. in the head with a baseball bat two other times I was hit by a car by mistake another day I fell over our railing and then bounced through an open door into the basement what an amazing fall, are you okay?

I'm fine no matter how many times I fell I kept getting up even before I could read I knew I liked the books my dad always talked about I had a lot of books around me I used to tell my parents that when I grow up I'll I will give some important words. There is a power within the big words that were in my future when I was six years old. One of my best friends was a boy whose father owned a store across the street. And my friend was white? I was black. We didn't care.

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ed and had fun together, but when we started going to school, everything changed. He went to a school where all the kids were white. I went to a school. where everyone was black shortly after he told me I can't play with you anymore, my dad said he doesn't want us to be friends, why, but why are you one of my best friends, right? I didn't understand that it didn't make sense at dinner my parents explained to me that it's because you're black and he's white. I was so angry that day, how could someone treat me differently just because of the color of my skin?

I wanted to hate my friend and his father but my parents told me to do the opposite that I should love my friend even if he hurt me they taught me that it is better to have more love in your life than more hate my mother taught me one of the most important lessons important to everyone you are as good as anyone you should never feel that you are less than anyone I wanted to believe it but every day I saw the opposite I saw that you could be treated unfairly just because of the color of your skin if you are white You went to a good school with excellent playgrounds and many books.

If you're black, your school was small, sometimes without desks or windows, hey, check out a playground. Look at it, where is our playground? It wasn't just the schools that black people had to have. use different water fountains different elevators even different bathrooms in fact, on a hot day when everyone wanted ice cream, if you were white you could sit at the counter and eat from a nice plate, but since I was black, if they served me something, it was to through the side window and they put my ice cream in the flimsy paper cup this ice cream is perfect this ice cream is melted it got even worse when I was 14 years old.

I had just won a speech contest my speech was about being fair to all the people I was so excited that on the bus ride home a few white people got on board, at first you have to give up your seats to white people. I stayed, it didn't seem fair, but my teacher convinced me to move and we spent the rest of the trip. Standing up and being thrown in every direction was the angriest I've ever been every day. That was life. Black people were treated terribly. The only question was what could I do about it?

At the age of 15 I started university at 19. I was a minister and entered the seminary to study religion during those years I read the works of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi lauro taught me about civil disobedience how you can change an evil system without violence Gandhi opened my mind to the power of non-violent resistance. What is that love? It is using love and peaceful methods to change unjust things in society. It was a lesson that I wanted to share with everyone in a short time. I had my chance in Alabama. A black woman named Rosa Parks was told to give up her seat on the bus.

For a white man it was exactly the same thing that happened to me, but unlike me, Mrs. Parks refused, she was arrested early the next morning. I received a phone call from a local community leader. It's time to take a stand, we should boycott the buses to let everyone know that I will no longer accept this treatment. You know it's not going to be easy. Don't ask if it's easy. Ask if it is correct. It was just like a deep thought. Instead of using violence to protest against unjust rules. The blacks would use a peaceful method.

We do not. riding the public buses without our money the bus companies would close now the only question was if it would work the first day of the protest my wife called me to the window the buses are all empty it's running we had to keep running as a leader of the bus boycott I gave one of the most important speeches of my life the room was full of cameras The crews were filming I only had 20 minutes to prepare I didn't use notes but spea

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from my heart I discovered how big Words can be: we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice flows like water and righteousness like a mighty stream, when the history books are written, in the future someone will have to say that there lived a race of black people who had the moral courage to defend their rights the police me He put me in jail saying I was brea

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the law.

Other people bombed my house but instead of using my fist I stayed calm. Don't you want to fight back? I am a man of non-violence and I know I am not alone, we are with you all the time Reverend, if no one rides these buses we will close, you are finally getting it, uh, for over a full year, all the black people of the city. and some white people also refused to ride the buses, which meant some people had to walk miles, but they continued. There was a power in staying together, finally our peaceful protest worked.

The rules were changed. Public buses could no longer separate people based on color. of their skin that was just the beginning soon our peaceful protests sparked other peaceful protests at the lunch counters college students organized sit-ins where they wouldn't stop until everyone could eat together our methods of nonviolence were so powerful that they invited me to meet with a president in the White House, but sometimes the hardest problems were at home, dad, look at the amusement park, can we go? Sorry, Yoki, we can't have fun. The city is not open to blacks. Watching my daughter cry was one of the most painful moments of my life it would only make me work harder for change it was absolutely easy not during a protest in Birmingham Alabama the police arrested me again and locked me in a dark cell that had only one someone stuck a newspaper in my window whose white religious leaders had written an article calling us lawbreakers, someone stuck a pen in that cell.

I wrote my own answers in the margins of the newspaper and even on the toilet paper. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. My letter from Birmingham Jail was soon published as a pamphlet and later appeared in magazines and newspapers. Today, it has been read by millions of people, as I said. It's amazing how big words can be. Our message was so important that even children their age joined us in Birmingham during the Children's Crusade Over a thousand children, some as young as six, turned up as of March. What do you want to feed them?

The first day the police arrested 900 of them, the next day 2,500 children showed up ready to go to jail. Say no to segregation. Freedom. now segregation is over I'm a separate person no more freedom this was our finest hour enraged because we didn't give up the police chief told the firefighters to spray the kids with water hoses and attack them with dogs they thought that would stop us , but instead As the entire country watched on television what they were doing to our children, it was a wake-up call to the nation's conscience. How can they treat little children like this?

That is not right. We need to help them 90 days later. The rules started to change now. blacks and whites in Birmingham used the same lunch counters water fountains and bathrooms you could feel the air more changes were coming Freedom was contagious By the summer of 1963 an estimated 1 million Americans held their own protests in cities from all over the country a man named A Philip Randolph suggested a mass march if we march together peacefully they won't be able to ignore us together we can convince Congress and the president to pass laws so that no one in America can treat people differently based on color of the skin.

I like idea of ​​where we should have it there's just one place where people came from almost every state they came on almost every form of transportation they even took time off work and they didn't get paid just to be there older people young black people white people even kids like You all came to Washington DC gathered in the Army just because they wanted a change and knew that the surest way to change the world is to stay together. I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the largest demonstration. for freedom in our nation's history on August 28, 1963 I stood at the podium and spoke what some later called my most important words of all.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged. by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. I have a dream that one day black boys and girls will be able to join hands with white boys and girls as sisters and brothers. Let freedom ring on every mountainside. Freedom Ring After the March on Washington, the president and Congress passed new laws for civil rights, but that didn't mean our work was done; In fact, our greatest battle was yet to come.

It began with 600 activists attempting to walk 54 miles from Selma Alabama. to the state capital of Montgomery Back then there were rules that prevented blacks from voting. If you want to change the laws, you have to be able to vote for new people who make the laws. We are marching to tell the governor that we want voting rights. This brutality must end no matter what happens don't let them pass the police had batons and tear gas they attacked our group and knocked down many people but as I learned a long time ago you have to get up no matter how hard they hit us We are still at peace but we don't. we made it two days later we tried again now we were 2,500 we will make it to Montgomery no you won't I promise you you won't do it one more time we tried one more time we didn't make it Did we give up?

What do you think it was like on Sunday, March 21, 1965? Our third attempt. Now we had 8,000 people with us. We are on the move. We will win for two days. Marchin On. The rain couldn't stop us. The world was watching the White House. There were two President Johnson even sent troops to protect us. Look at the crowd. Blacks, whites, Christians, Jews, all standing together. Tiredness can't stop us when we arrive in Montgomery, Alabama. Tears were shed, but this time there were tears of joy in my life. People tried to tell me that I. It wasn't as good as they were just because of the color of my skin when someone hurts you like that it can be tempting to hurt them back you should refuse when someone shows you hate show them love when someone shows you violence show them kindness towards achieving our goals we should walk the path of peace we must join arm in arm with our brothers and sisters we must march together when we do our voices will be heard and freedom will ring remember the Fun Town amusement park its doors will eventually open to black people and Dr.

King took his Daughter, did you know that he was the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at that time? She was only 35 years old. She donated the prize money to the Civil Rights Movement. He said the award was the work of many other unsung heroes. He also fought against poverty, there is even a national holiday for him on the third Monday of every January. Only Washington and Lincoln have a day like this and share theirs. It is a day to remember how far we have come and how much work remains to be done. I am Martin Luther King Jr.

I stand for peace I stand for justice I am here to help others I am proof that no matter how hard the fight is, we must fight for what is right and work to change what is wrong, whatever it may be the struggle you face? No matter how difficult it is, you must always keep going. I am proof of this. If we get up. If we stay united. If we stay united. Nothing can stop our dream. It is always the right time to do the right thing. Martin Luther King Jr., the end. Thank you so much. for reading with me today and remember the great Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. I know that if we can stay together, nothing can stop our dream. Continue reading Little Buddies.