Martin Luther King's "The Other America" was addressed at Stanford University. What Dr. King explains is the division of the US by race and class. The US is a racially segregated society that divides African Americans and Whites. Even when de jure segregation was dismantled, de facto segregation remained. American racism did not only target African Americans, but Mexicans, Native Americans, and South East Asians. Martin Luther King exposes this in his speech. As Dr. King explains that the ultimate end of racism will be genocide. When one group sees itself as superior, it will being to dehumanize groups it views as inferior. The other America is the groups that are oppressed : the poor, African Americans, South Americans, Asians, and women. However, Whites live in a society that favors them and gives them privilege. The only equality that exists is equality for Whites only. White liberals abandoned Dr. King in the late 1960s, because they believed most of the problems had been solved. They were also vexed that he opposed the Vietnam War. If racial equality is to be a realized, Whites must change. They will always hate, but laws can change behavior.
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