The Civil Rights Movement is the most influential time period that has ever occurred. People were forced to accept the fact, that segregation was WRONG. There were groups that fought against integration, like the Klu Klux Klan. There were also many who fought for integration like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Charles Houston, and Thurgood Marshall. These men, along with countless others, fought for what they truly believed in. Segregation enforcers needed laws to change their minds. Men and women avoided buses, they sat in all white diners, and they marched to Washington. Children stood up and fought for equal rights in schools, and on D-Day in Birmingham. By the children fighting, people finally opened their eyes. The message started to seep in, They won't stop until they reach the Freedom Land.
America isn't perfect, at least not yet. We still struggle with race and segregation, just in different ways. Minorities are subjected to lower class living due to their inability to prosper. A "White Flight" is still present. People can't help but want to attach to their own race. It is who they feel more comfortable with. Therefore, subconsciously segregate themselves. Schools and standardize test separate us by race. We are struggling and will continue to.
On New Years Day 2010 Oscar Grant was shot and killed in the Oakland Bart station by a Bart Police Officer, Johannes Mehserle. He was recently found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Mehserle pleaded not guilty. A lot of people saw this as a hate crime. There were riots and protest for the justice of Oscar Grant. No one but Johannes knows what he really meant to do, and we probably will never know. Did he mean to pull the gun or was he really reaching for his tazor? And where do we go from here?
The only way out is up.
3 comments:
I like how this starts off, saying that people were forced to execpt segregation was wrong. This shows that people were to stubborn to accept that what they've known was worng. It took people like MLK Jr. and Malcolm X to show these people that they deserve to be treated the same as them. Its just sad that subconsciously we choose to seperate ourselvsefrom other groups.
I like how you mention different scenarios about civil rights in the past and one that happened recently. I also like how you mentioned the White Flight, which can still be considered a method of segregation. Overall, I think that your post was very informing and explains what civil rights really are.
Brooke, you made clear and excellent points. Your statements were not over bairing with opinion, but we still knew where you stand. I completly agree with what you are saying here. Your right the only place to go now is up and yes guess what people? AMERICA ISN'T PERFECT.
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