The Content of Their Character | Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
The content of their character
I have always liked this quote. I don’t want people to judge me by the color of my skin. You can see my skin color, but don’t judge me for what it is.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world that does not have stereotypes. There are many stereotypes about skin color and not all of them are about dark skin colors. In fact, when I was growing up I thought that all white kids were rich. I don’t know where I got that idea, but it isn’t true.
We can’t put people into boxes
I often do motivational speaking to students at schools. I had just finished a talk and I noticed a kid staring at me nearby. When he had a chance, he came up to speak to me and he told me something I’ll never forget.
He told me how he respected me and how he never thought he would ever say that to someone like me. He went on to say that some of his family were members of the KKK (Ku Klux Klan - a white supremacist hate group). Despite his background, he was willing to listen to me. Despite the color of my skin, he chose to see me for who I am.
How can this quote help you?
We need to see people as people and not judge them based on the color of their skin. For me, I want people to get to know me for who I am and not what I look like. Don’t you want that too? We can work toward that dream in our circles of influence.
It comes down to choices and it starts with us individually. How do we judge people? Don’t we all want to live in a world where we are judged by who we are and not what we look like? Don’t other people deserve that same courtesy from us? Judge me based on the content of my character and I’ll do the same.
