Coach Haskins Think Alike Essays - Don Haskins, Glory Road, Haskins

Coach Haskin's Think Alike Essays - Don Haskins, Glory Road, Haskins Daniel Kang Ms. Menard Honors English 8 20 April 2014 Coach Haskin's Think Alike Everyone expresses a unique and different personality. But some people's personalities prove very parallel. In the movie "Glory Road", a basketball coach named Don Haskins shows his personality in the way he leads and orders his African American basketball players. He views the world like Martin Luther King Jr. who emphasized non-violence, non-cooperation, and getting attention in a major way. Don Haskins, a great coach of a basketball team, shows that he contemplates like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the aspect of making a point and getting attention. "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism" (King 298). Don Haskins' main focus, not to bring about integration, but, as it turns out, he saw speed and skill from Negro boys that the major basketball leagues didn't want because of their skin color. He used them on his own team, sending them to the Finals. "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored" (King 236). Before Don Haskins recruited Negro basketball players for his team, they never appeared on any other basketball tea m. The black's skills at their game astounded many people. The Miners worked hard to "Send em a message" (Glory Road). Many basketball teams recruited a black player for their team after that amazing win by the Miners. "So the purpose of the direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation" (King 236). The Miners, led by their coach, Don Haskins, fight for their freedom and win. This great movie about the Miner's fight for integrating of US basketball, supports Martin Luther's way of discerning things. This event fits into a time period when all black people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to fight for their freedom and rights. Some people argue that Don Haskins views things more like Malcolm X in thinking. They believe that he lets violence take control of his black players. Or some say Don Haskins behaves more like Maya Angelou in viewing things; just accept everything with no reaction. "Shame made me want to hide my face. Mrs. Flowers deserved better than to be called Sister" (Angelou 355). Even though, ashamed of her mother, Margaret performs no action. Don Haskins wants his black players to "Shut them up. Win" (Glory Road). "But I think the black man in this country, above and beyond people all over the world, will be more justified when he stands up and starts to protect himself, no matter how many necks he has to break and heads he has to crack" (Malcolm X 344). Don Haskins promotes no violence in his players. Even when Nevil Shed, one of the black basketball players gets beat up at a restaurant in the south, Coach Haskins tells them to get into the car instead of going after the guys who beat up She d. "But I don't think that we should run around trying to love somebody who doesn't love us" (Malcolm X 352). This excerpt from Malcolm's article proves similar to Don Haskin's view but Don proves that he wants his players to hold in the hate until the time showed itself where they could show the Americans that they excel at basketball. They let all their hate out in the NCAA Championship against Kentucky. Don Haskins also remarks, "Right now it's not about talent, it's about heart. It's about who can go out there and play the hardest. Who can go out there and play the smartest." (Glory Road). He wants them to prove to the crowd that they play as decent as the white teams. These examples fortify my opinion that Don Haskins proves nothing like Malcolm X or Maya Angelou, no matter what other people think. Don Haskin and Martin Luther King Jr.'s