23/05/07: Martin Luther King en la APA

Martin Luther King dió un discurso memorable en la APA en 1967. Aunque fué en el mes de Setiembre, hoy recordé que este año será el aniversario número 40 de ese discurso. En una época y una sociedad en que estas cosas no se decían, y en la que muchos psicólogos no cuestionaban en absoluto el status quo (al contrario, funcionaban a veces perpetuando las injusticias), King les dió la voz de alerta.

Este es mi extracto favorito del discurso de King:

There are certain technical words in every academic discipline which soon become stereotypes and even clichés. Every academic discipline has its technical nomenclature. You who are in the field of psychology have given us a great word. It is the word maladjusted. This word is probably used more than any other word in psychology. It is a good word; certainly it is good that in dealing with what the word implies you are declaring that destructive maladjustment should be destroyed. You are saying that all must seek the well-adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities.

But on the other hand, I am sure that we will recognize that there are some things in our society, some things in our world, to which we should never be adjusted. There are some things concerning which we must always be maladjusted if we are to be people of good will. We must never adjust ourselves to racial discrimination and racial segregation. We must never adjust ourselves to religious bigotry. We must never adjust ourselves to economic conditions that take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. We must never adjust ourselves to the madness of militarism, and the self-defeating effects of physical violence.

Puede leerse el discurso completo aquí.

Imagen tomada de aquí