UC Berkeley and Beloved Community

Aung Lin

4-3-2013

ASA 2-Reading Reflection #2

Title: UC Berkeley and Beloved Community

Word Count:319

1)      Title: “Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus Activism” by Robby Cohen

I didn’t know and was surprised to find out that in the early 1960s, students didn’t have to right to free speech. I can’t believe Jack Weinberg who had set up the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) tables on Sproul Plaza at Berkeley campus was arrested by the police. This showed me how back in those days you can get arrested for trying to do the right thing. But the crowd came in and blocked the police car to block Weinberg’s arrest. I realized after reading Cohen’s article that as a college student, I’m lucky I have the right for free speech and can say my opinions in our class.

Question:

1)      Did Berkeley Free Speech Movement in 1964 influenced all of these protesting happening today at UC Berkeley?

Picture: Berkeley Free Speech Movement

2)      Title: “The Beloved Community of Martin Luther King” by Grace  Lee Boggs

When I first did my research on Grace Lee Boggs I was shocked that a Chinese woman looking up to Martin Luther King Jr. is something I never heard of. Most of the Chinese women in my family never heard of Martin Luther King Jr. and how he changed America. King’s vision of the beloved community is not just for Black Power but for all races including Asians. I like how Boggs wondered what might have happened to America if we took a different path of King’s philosophy of nonviolence. America wouldn’t be America without Martin Luther King Jr. movements and his speeches.

Question:

1)      What does Grace Lee Boggs meant when she said King’s speeches and writings from the last two years of his life and how did that effect America and Asian community?

Picture: Martin Luther King Jr. giving speech