People are afraid of change and of the unknown. That is why it takes society so long to effect fundamental change. Remember when 4 students were killed at Kent State university in 1970 for protesting the Vietnam war? Over half of Americans polled at the time thought the shootings by the National Guard were justified. This is the world MLK was dealing with and would have continued dealing with if he hadn’t been assassinated. How far have we come? It is no longer acceptable to kill white people in a protest. Black people? It’s only just becoming a problem for most Americans. And are we moving backwards? A scary thought.