The struggle for equality - Essay Example

The Struggle For Equality Civil rights are freedoms and rights guaranteed to a member of a community, or nation. Freedom of speech, of the press, religion, and of fair and equal treatment are the basic civil rights. The constitution of the United States contains a Bill of Rights that describes simple liberties and rights insured to every person in the United States. Although the Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution, civil rights were not always respected to all human beings, especially blacks. When the Constitution was first written, many Americans understood the meaning of the famous inscripture "all men are created equal" to mean that all white males were created equal, likewise with other civil rights guarantees as well. As a result, blacks were enslaved and persecuted throughout the late 1700's and early 1800's. After the end of Civil War the Constitution was amended to give former slaves freedom and the rights of citizens. This passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to Constitution were supposed to give the African-Americans equal protection under the law. They were also intended to give the new citizens the right to vote. During the 1850's abolitionists in the North questioned the morality of southern slavery by writing and preaching about the rights blacks were denied. Abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Fredrick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth, paved the way for the first civil rights movement that occurred after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed by Congress was supposed to offer African-Americans the same rights as "enjoyed by white citizens to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property." In reality this law was rarely enforced and had little effect. Most sections of the law were either repealed by later Congresses or ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It was not until the Jones v. Mayer in 1968 that the Supreme Court upheld the 1866 Civil Rights Act. About 102 years after the legislation was passed an African-American man was able to buy a house that an owner had refused to sell on the basis that Jones was black.In the 1950's and early 1960's, whites in the South lived in segregated societies, separating themselves from blacks in every humanly way possible. The old Jim Crow laws governed all aspects of their existence, from the schoolroom to the restroom. Southern blacks faced new discrimination every day whether it be economically, socially, or politically. America was destined for another, more far- reaching civil rights movement. The civil rights movement during the late 1800's and early 1900's provided the foundations for the current civil rights laws achieved throughout the 1960's. Black Americans made significant gains in their struggle for equal rights during Reconstruction, the 12-year period after the Civil War. In 1868, after southern president Andrew Johnson vetoed a Civil Rights bill, the radically republican influenced congress transported the principals of the Civil Rights bill to the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment conferred civil rights and citizenship for all former slaves, and was incorporated into the requirements for a southern state to regain its statehood. After the 14th Amendment was passed; however, the radical faction of congress was disappointed that it did not grant blacks the right to vote. When the fear that southern states might amend their constitutions so as to withdraw blacks from the ballot was recognized by moderate Republicans, Congress formally placed the ballot in the hands of blacks with the 15th Amendment, passed in 1869. With the passing of breakthrough legislation, several leaders emerged to lead this new civil rights movement. Ex-slave, Booker T. Washington put his newly acquired freedom to use when he started a black industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama. He taught his students useful trades so they could eventually gain economic equality. However, Washington stopped short of promoting social equality. In a famous speech in Atlanta, Washington hinted to his belief in gradualism: "In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." W.E.B Du Bois, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was just the opposite of Washington. Du Bois demanded complete equality for blacks, economic as well as social. He believed in the immediate integration of blacks into mainstream American life, regardless of the consequences. The civil rights movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's succeeded in "breaking the ice" for blacks. However, this civil rights movement did not accomplish its goals to the fullest due to the lack of government enforcement. After the Reconstruction congress passed unprecedented legislation involving black civil rights, the supreme court failed to enforce the legislation in the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of "separate but equal" in 1896. In the South, the Jim Crow laws emerged, segregating blacks in public places, including hotels and restaurants. In elections, southern states used poll taxes, literacy tests, and other means to deprive blacks of their voting rights. The Jim Crow movement turned out to be the biggest influence that led to the immobilization of the American black population. The laws were basically just a technique to get around the basic rights of blacks. It created, once again, a divisional racial system in the south. One part of the Jim Crow Laws allowed the government to fully neglect the educational needs of black children, in fact, the laws had the most effect on the education of black children. The schooling system made black and white schools greatly unequal, and cultivated the educational needs of white children. Many black children were left uneducated due to these laws. The condition of black schools were overcrowded in run down buildings. There were enough schools for whites so they did not have this problem. The teachers in black schools were poorly trained and had to work with the lack of supplies they had, but white teachers were well trained and got money for supplies from the government. Many black families were forced to move north to have hope of their children being educated. In the north, Jim Crow Laws were not as present and Massachusetts ended some of the laws before the Civil War ended. The term "Jim Crow" was used so often it became an adjective in the American language in 1838. In 1889, the Interstate Commerce Commission made railroads provide equal fairness to both races. The same accommodations, however, were not required for blacks and whites. By 1891, seven southern states passed laws that stated "separate but equal" railroad transportation. They wanted blacks and whites to ride in the same trains with the same treatment but they wanted them to be in separate railcars. The case was known as Plessy versus Ferguson. The ruling of this case was not equal in fact and it allowed the usage of more Jim Crow Laws. Some railroads made blacks ride in second class even if they paid to ride in first class. Due to the ruling of the case of Plessy versus Ferguson, segregation laws soon made blacks use different water fountains, restaurants, recreational facilities and other things, than the whites The Reconstruction Years was a time period after the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared unconstitutional, where whites started treating blacks with more respect and equality. During this time, blacks and whites still did not interact with each other much but it was more often than before. They were now in direct competition with each other in the city. Large black communities started springing up around America during this time. These new communities created a challenge to the people that lived in southern states, and they had trouble controlling them, unlike the ease they had controlling more rural blacks. Blacks and whites now used the same utilities and facilities. Whites could no longer have their own restaurants hotels or water fountains. Before these acts, blacks were not allowed to vote. Massachusetts, New Hampshire,Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island let blacks vote in 1860. Only six percent of the black population lived in states that allowed them to vote because politicians believed blacks could not deal with any political issues. After more blacks were allowed to vote, white politicians now realized that they needed black support. Now that the foundation was built, the ice was broken, the scene was ready for the subsequent civil rights movement in the 1960's. The civil rights movement of the 1960's occurred when the modern, civilized world clashed with the traditional southern world that southern Americans were clinging to. Americans inside and outside of Washington were realizing the damaging effects of segregation, and along with frustrated blacks, the civil rights revolution was born. Chief Justice Earl Warren, appointed to the bench by Eisenhower, surprised even the president himself with his populist principles, he helped to ignite the civil rights fire. The unanimous decision of the Warren led court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in May 1954 was unprecedented. The justices rule of the segregation in the public schools was inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional was a slap in the face to traditionalists. The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that segregating southerners lives was dead. The justices now insisted that desegregation must go ahead with all deliberate speed. Following up the breakthrough court decision, came the Civil Rights Acts, the first passed since Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the Commission on Civil Rights to investigate charges of denied civil rights. It also created the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice to enforce federal civil rights laws and regulations. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 provided for the appointment of referees to help blacks register to vote, likewise the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed literacy test in many southern states. The words "civil rights" might connote the thought of equal opportunities. However, civil rights are much more than that. They extend to all nonpolitical rights of citizens. All though most would like to believe that civil rights legislation really started with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment to the Constitution, it really all began with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.In 1964, a Civil Rights Act was passed that ordered restaurants, hotels, and other businesses that serve the general public to serve all people without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. It also barred discrimination by employers and unions, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce fair employment practices. In addition, the act provided for a cutoff of federal funds from any program or activity that allowed racial discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed in the Kennedy/Johnson era, was by far the climax of the civil rights movement. With this act, Jim Crow laws in any shape or form, by any person or business, were now illegal. Completing the civil rights legislation passed in the 60's was the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It aimed chiefly at ending discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. One December day, in 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a whites only section of a public bus, leading to her arrest. Outraged blacks all over America, led by the 27 year old Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., boycotted Montgomery buses all over America. In 1957, King also formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in order to mobilize the vast power of the black churches on behalf of black rights. By organizing peaceful protests and giving motivating speeches, King truly was the most effective leader of the Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960's. The civil rights movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's was a significant time period for blacks, but it cannot compare with the progress made for the black race during the civil rights movement of the 1960's. During Reconstruction, favorable legislation was passed for blacks, but the turn of the century brought back the old ways of the government before the war, with discriminating actions such as Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Jim Crow Laws, and the ignorance of black voting rights. The legislation passed in the 1960's included the overturn of the hated Plessy v. Ferguson case, and laws outlining the complete integration of blacks with the rest of society with laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Leaders of the civil rights movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's were not as involved, motivated, or as organized as the leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960's. While Booker T. Washington was successful in helping blacks catapult themselves into contention with whites economically, he lacked the desire to lead blacks to social equality. W.E.B. Du Bois did attempt to lead blacks into social equality, but he lacked adequate support from the black majority. Civil rights leaders of the 1960's, eg. Martin Luther King Jr., gathered large numbers of supporters during speeches, encouraging active participation in protests for the social, economical, and political equality for blacks. Although the black community has come a long way over the last century, there have been some detrimental effects in the aftermath of their quest for equality. One such effect is prejudice within the black race instead of other ethnicities. Blacks have perceived one another for centuries within the environment in which they live. In some ways they take on the prejudices of white society and condemn one another in a racist way. Supposed differences such as light-skinned vs. dark-skinned, middle class vs. lower class and various conflicts within religion divide black people Blacks are murdering one another, keeping each other from achieving socially , economically and politically because of the color of their skin and/or the area in which you live. The fact that it is common for one black person to call another "nigger" reflects the fact that as a culture, black society has perhaps taken on the prejudices and racism of the surrounding society (Essien-Udom, 1995). The origins of this discord may possibly date back long before the Civil Rights Movement and even before the Civil War. Relationships between black folks at various class levels has been neglected because the impact has never been so profound. Yet, one could argue that it began before slavery, dating back to Africa, when various tribes struggled within themselves for leadership and control of the village. Although this subject has been under-studied, the problem is not new and unlikely to go away any time soon. What we failed to realize is that obtaining the opportunity for upward mobility meant that we would take on the characteristics of the same people who were already there and inherit the same class struggles that were systemic to their racial group (Cooper, 2006). After Emancipation the slow move towards a semi-equality occurred and black culture began to be divided along the same lines as the wider white culture. Thus economic status, educational attainment and racial background started to become of importance. As inter-racial mixing started to occur the 'range' of skin colors within black culture started to expand. Those blacks with lighter colored skin were regarded as superior to those with darker complexions. This might be seen as reflecting the wider tendency within society to divide between the 'superior whites' and 'inferior blacks'. A continuum of color between those who are completely black to those who might be able to pass for white started to occur, and the black community was divided accordingly. Instead of building each other up, blacks are stepping over one another to achieve their own goals while looking down at those that are perceived as either not attempting to do better because of resources, education and fear(Essen-Udom, 1995). What are the origins of this strange tendency to be biased against fellow members of a group that should be as supportive as possible One of the problems is that "a century after Emancipation, nineteen million black Americans, robbed of their traditions and of a pride in their past, are still seeking acceptance by the white majority but are continuing to live in semi-bondage on the fringes of American society" (Essen-Udom, 1995). It is the fact that black culture essentially has to invent itself anew, and that it is still largely despised by the majority of American society, that makes a unified black response so difficult. Self-hatred is a great problem. Black people have lived under oppression and domination and have no idea what will happen in their future. Blacks are often ashamed of being black. As Grier and Cobbs suggest, the black reaction to the prejudice, racism and hopelessness that surround them is often to turn their anger on themselves. They suggest that "aggression leaps from wounds inflicted and ambitions spiked . . . it grows out of oppression and capricious cruelty" (Grier, Cobbs, 1992). Precisely why the rage is turned in on the community rather than out at the white society that causes much of the despair is difficult to explain. As the Rodney King Riots showed, many blacks have a limited geographical knowledge of the areas that they live within, and so the rage can only really be spent in a limited area. The riots were mainly concentrated in South-Central Los Angeles, and so most of the buildings and businesses destroyed were black-owned (Gooding-Williams, 1993). Some were Korean, but most were black. Blacks compare against each other in the household in which they live, by having favoritism over the child that gets good grades vs. the one who have difficulty reading writing and spelling. In the community those that have two parent family are looked at as achieving more than those ones being raised in a single family home. They stereotype one other by the clothes they wear, whether or not they can afford to go to the hair dresser, who has a car vs. one catching the bus. People are being perceived because of their handicap. When in public facility like the supermarket, restaurant, or park you sense people staring or whispering rude things like, ill look at him or her retard and lots of nasty accusations. Some blacks have families larger than others which cause smaller families to envy them. Blacks must pull together and stop criticizing and degrading each other. People are being discriminated based on the group, class, or category to which that person belongs. Discrimination has been in existence for decades. Blacks have always treated one other like strangers not having each other best entrance in heart. This rift has been most visible within the often violent and disturbing images of rap and hip-hop music in which women are seen as merely objects to be used for sex. Otherwise they are just "bitches" and "hos" who are beneath contempt (Keyes, 2004). Further, the divisions shown by rap music extend to a form of socio-economic prejudice within the so-called "bling" culture that worships easy money and wealth. Single black mothers tend to be poor and thus are portrayed as simple fodder for the men to exploit or as an example of the poor who should be despised. Once again this is a form of "black on black" prejudice as white women rarely appear in the videos that encapsulate the attitude of the rap music. The artists themselves claim that they are merely reflecting the culture that exists on the streets; but it must be clear that they are in fact responsible for part of it through their influential music. In some senses, rap culture essentially glorifies an extreme form of capitalism in which the winners have a fortune and the "losers" are destitute. However, rap music may also offer a way out of these divisive forms of racism that occur within the black community. As Keyes suggests, "most critics and scholars concur that rap music is a confluence of African American and Caribbean cultural expressions, such as sermons, blues, game songs, and toasts and toasting - all of which are recited in a chanted rhyme" (Keyes, 2005). It is this mixture of different cultural influences that can offer a way through the prejudice through offering a vision of what black people from various cultures have in common, rather than what divides them. As Keyes writes, "hip-hop culture grew out of the cross-fertilization of African American vernacular cultures with their Caribbean equivalents" (Keyes, 2005). The stress of this cross-fertilization, of a commonality in experience should be forthcoming within rap culture. The fact that most of the violence that occurs within the black community is in fact black-on-black in nature is something that has been noted for several decades. The way out of this situation, together with the manner of moving away from prejudice in general was encapsulated in the two visions of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The contrast between non-violent protest and "by any means necessary" represented a larger division within the black community on how to deal both with the problems inherent within the culture and also in reaction to the racism of the outside world. The division between Christian and Muslim within the black community is not perhaps as extreme as it was in the 1960's, but it still exists in many forms. The disproportionate incarceration of Blacks unfortunately correlates with disproportionate use of street drugs by Blacks, and so is the drop-out rate of Black high school students. No one has much chance of rising out of poverty and ignorance when addicted to drugs or when raised by an addicted parent. For so many, the slavery of the Ante-bellum South has been replaced by a far worse slavery -- to drugs. Let all races work together for a new emancipation! (Markle, 2006) There are divisions in America, but the problems we face as a Nation are not so much race oriented as culturally. It's as if we don't want to see that we aren't all an amorphous collective, that we live, believe, and dream our own versions of human history. Race is one of many factors that must be considered when speaking of the inequalities faced not only by black Americans, but by all who seek interaction with others. Everyone judges, just by what degrees is what people want to measure, and wish others to be measured by. This issue is bigger than color or even class: it encompasses human behavior, and a better understanding of why (frustrating sometimes) we have through history, had racial, cultural, and gender based prejudices. The key to our current discourse on the state of American culture is to look into the past, and draw those lessons into our present discussions. It is education that is the most important element within divisions, for it is this that can enable people to leave the hopelessness of their inner city lives for the suburbs. Due, by and large, to widespread de facto segregation in housing patterns and white flight, many of the nation's economically depressed urban centers are populated predominantly by African Americans and other minorities. Public schools in the nation's inner cities and other centers of poverty which serve low-income families generally and consistently have failed to produce literate learners who achieve at or above grade level. African-American children, who are more likely to live below the poverty level than any other group in American society, consistently score below national or state averages on standardized tests. In many instances, when there are white children living within the areas served by failing schools, their families send them to higher-performing, out-of- boundary public schools, or to charter, magnet or private schools. Although a significant number of African-American children are served by below-average schools, this phenomenon is only restricted to the black lower and lower-middle classes. In many middle-class schools, African Americans do not perform as badly as the "inner-city" schools and also socially blend in with people of other races. There are various factors lying behind the lower scores that schools in lower-income African-American neighborhoods achieve. One of the factors is that when the whole region is poor, the school is unable to provide experienced and trained staff to meet the needs of students. Because inner-city public schools are supported with fewer tax dollars, these schools usually spend less money per student than affluent middle-class public schools. Also, many African Americans are skeptical about the nature of the tests themselves, claiming the tests are biased against African Americans. Although many black schools in depressed urban areas fall below average, some have progressed and shown excellent academic scores as compared to other schools with similar demographic make-up. Five of Inglewood's elementary schools, for example, have made the Pacific Research Foundation's High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools list. Other lower-income schools that were historically under-achieving are now also improving greatly and taking big steps toward better education of today's African-Americans youths. Just as whites and others who have risen into the bourgeoisie have historically looked down upon the working class from which they originated, many in the black middle class believe that the blacks who are left behind in poor and working class conditions are actually lazy and ignorant. Many blacks who progressed from inner city slums to the suburbs often express detached feelings toward blacks remaining in ghettos. This is especially true of black athletes, doctors, actors, and so forth. Renowned black comedian Bill Cosby has spoken out to this effect. (Wikipedia, 2006) Thus divisions within the black community should be seen in the wider context of the development of American culture in general. Divisions within black culture may reflect the fact that it is not a homogenous unit, but this realization is not necessarily a negative matter. Indeed, it is the prejudiced and the racist who seek to lump all people together into the same category. At times within the black community there is the same tendency. Thus inner city blacks regard all those in the middle class who have moved to the suburbs as "acting white", while that same middle class regards all ghetto dwellers as gang bangers and gangsters. True communication and understanding will come when the two groups realize that there as diverse and heterogeneous as the individuals contained with them. The tendency to generalize and thus objectify individuals within groups that one is suspicious of occurs with same vehemence in the black community as within any other. Political isolation is also something to be considered. In some American states, mostly in the South, felons can never vote again. This prevents numerous black men from voting, as they have disparate incarceration rates. Some suggest that the 2000 presidential election may have had a different outcome if all blacks who wanted to vote had had the opportunity to do so. Only by moving to states where they do have the right to vote as ex- felons can these men and women influence the Federal outcome once more. When viewing the fact that in modern times only 3 African-Americans were able to make it to become Senator, while the population is at least 12% African-American, another political disconnect is found between a specific population group and the specific representatives. Studies suggest that employers are indifferent to a white male's participation in the military, but are appreciative when African-American men have served in the military. This upsets many because it appears that employers think of black males workers as needing to be tamed by the military. The black community should realize that it is necessary and perhaps even vital for it to try and find as much in common with one another as that which divides. In this way it may deal with the racism and prejudice that is still directed at it from a large part of the white community, even though it is less obvious than it used to be. Through acceptance of divisions and a celebration of the diversity that is present within them black-on-black prejudice can be alleviated. References Clark, Kenneth. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. Wesleyan UP, New York: 1999. Cooper, Bill. Letter to PBS, 2006. www.pbs.org. Essien-Udom, EU. Black Nationalism: The Search for an Identity. University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1995. Gooding-Williams, Robert. Ed. Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising. Routledge, New York: 1993. Grier, William. Cobbs, Price. Black Rage: Two Black Psychiatrists Reveal the Full Dimensions of the Inner Conflicts and the Desperation of Black Life in the United States. Basic Books, New York: 1992. Keyes, Cheryl. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. University of Illinois Press, Chicago: 2005. Markle, George. "Letter to PBS". www.pbs.org. 2006. Papa, Maggie. "African American Culture through Oral Tradition". George Washington University. Wideman, John. Brothers and Keepers: A Memoir. Mariner, New York: 2005. Read More