The housing market is one of the few specific examples of how racism and segregation continued to exist even though there were laws against it. Through time America learned the hard way that the Constitution was a living document. One person considered to be the most important to this cause is Marin Luther King Jr. He is the most iconic person when the topic of segregation is brought up and he definitely deserves it. If it weren’t for the works of him and the people that supported him then America as we know it today may have been just as segregated as one hundred years ago. Martin Luther King Jr. took the ideas nested in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and helped apply it to everybody. Hennessey offers the idea in his comic that the ideas of the first seven articles were crafted for a completely different society than the one today. Using Hennessey’s comic to look back on how the ideas of the Preamble have affected society one would argue that he was completely right. Ideas such as establishing justice, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty only applied to those with power. Although, what Hennessey’s comic doesn’t offer is how the transition happened so that these ideas applied to everybody.

One of the most iconic moments in Martin Luther King’s life is the Selma March. The reason it is one of his most iconic moments is the lasting impact that it has had on society. The idea of democracy that the United States was found upon was non-existent when the Constitution was forged. In fact, the word democracy doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution and that is the way that the Founding Fathers wanted it. Since democracy wasn’t mentioned it allowed white property owners to control the elections and maintain power. Over an extensive period of time more and more people were getting the ability to vote but that right had a very difficult time reaching the African American community. Even though the Civil Rights act of 1964 gave African American citizens the right to vote, southern states such as Alabama weren’t letting black citizens vote. This was a huge problem because government officials would side with racist white citizens and help turn away black voters to help keep pro white lawmakers in office. This led to Martin Luther King Jr. organizing a march from Selma to Montgomery to get African American citizens the right to vote that they were entitled to. Even though this was a peaceful march, white segregationists and even local and state police attacked the protestors all while being broadcasted on national television. This goes to show that even laws are in place it doesn’t mean that people will follow them. The march had a lasting impact on society and made major changes in the previous legislation. Shortly after the march, the Voting Rights Act was established and this led to all African Americans obtaining the right to vote. The act also got rid of literacy tests and also made sure that there was a federal oversight of the voting process. 

The need for the Constitution to adapt to new ideas as society develops grows as time goes on. If it isn’t a living document then the very ideas embedded into it are lost in a sea of vagueness and confusion. But, the thought that society today is different from earlier and that problems such as segregation don’t linger would be foolish. These values are heavily touched on in Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In the speech he talks about what African Americans have already endured and that the war that they have been fighting isn’t over. Hennessey states at the end of the comic, “ To know the legacy of political exclusion that once existed is to have greater insight on the most unflattering chapters of the nation’s history” and the unflattering chapters are what Dr. King preaches black Americans have already overcome. Unlike Hennessey however, Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t stop at the past, he looked into the future of what he dreamed America could be. Dr. King directly supports the idea of looking into the future as in his speech he stated “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” To be able to say that the American Dream is able to shift to all people of America shows how even American ideology is living. What that means is that ideas such as the American Dream can be altered to fit the current society. The fact that he was able to change how African Americans were treated shows how this dream led to the constitution adapting to modern society. 

Taking a look at the specific panels in Hennessey’s comic, it is clear to see how the ideas of a living Constitution and living ideology are present. The initial meaning of terms such as “Establish Justice” only applied to specific people. Hennessey proves this by having half of his comic that shows how the Constitution has affected society contain only white property owners. Hennessey shows how these rights were only available to a certain part of society even though the Constitution referred to everybody. Even though Hennessey argues that amendments helped society heal and mature from the original exclusion of rights, he needed to go into more detail about how the process isn’t complete yet. In today’s society, people are using many of the bills passed from people such as Martin Luther King Jr. to help obtain the rights that they also deserve. For example, the LGBT community is currently on the front foot of a battle of civil rights. At the end of Hennessey’s comic, it gives off the idea that everything has been settled and that society today has fixed all of the problems created or ignored in 1787. To think that even in 2016, America is dealing with civil rights issues is very hard to believe given the history that is present. Hennessey’s idea that to understand the exclusion that once existed is to look at the unflattering parts of history may be occurring right now. The need for the Constitution and legislation to be living and to adapt to current situations in modern society is vitally important so that the exclusion that once existed can be terminated.
