“In the days of the Millennials, is ‘The Dream’ still of
concern?” Exactly 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his
revolutionary “I Have a Dream” speech; this not only affected civil rights
policies in America, but his message became a global reminder of what must be
done in order to live in peace and understanding as one race: the human race.
While many young people are conscious of his life and mission, it sometimes
seems as if very few publicly care about ending acts of injustice,
discrimination, or irrational violence. Images and messages of intolerance and self-degradation
(lowering one’s self-worth) are posted daily—at every second, really. Even
worse, some children of the new age praise indifference just so that a level of
‘cool’ is maintained. That being said, is it really cool to be disconnected and carefree?
Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
first made the notion of “cultural capital”—the manners, norms, dress, style of
interaction, and other concepts that a group of people find valuable. One’s cultural capital can be affected by
ethnicity, age, geographical location, socioeconomic status (e.g. low-income,
middle-class, the “1%”), etc. Being a person that is part of a minority group
of a population can be a harsh reality as he or she may find their cultural
capital is less esteemed by the majority. Cultural capital, like other forms of
capital, is a method used to attain status and wealth; if one possesses traits
and ideas that are valued by people of a specific culture, then he or she will
have the support of that demographic, physically, fiscally (money), and mentally.
As I look at Twitter now, it puts me at ease to see (14 HOURS LATER… *insert side-eye stare here*) posts concerning the “I Have a Dream” speech or the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington are the leading trending topics—and even posts on the upcoming U.S. confrontation with Syrian government allows me to think more highly of social media users. Yes, it is fun to #ReplaceSongTitlesWithTwerk from time to time, but it appears as if teens are content with being apathetic to more pressing issues that ultimately affect your lives. This apathy even goes to the point of ridiculing others for placing value in mature matters. And I shudder to think that the cultural capital of my generation is downing intelligence and uplifting purposeless spending, dishonesty, and smuttiness. Take a moment and do your brain justice by allowing it to truly DREAM.
- Brandon Avery
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