Civil Rights thru Presidential Past
July 5, 2010 at 2:57 pm Leave a comment
When President John F. Kennedy made his infamous Address on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963, after racial tension created problems for two African Americans attempting to enter the University of Alabama, the president called for change within American’s society: “It ought to be possible for any American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regards of his race or his color.”
Kennedy was assassinated before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended, but he, along with the efforts of several other civil rights activists, were instrumental in causing social change within America for the benefit of those oppressed since the age of slavery in the country. “This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds and was founded on the principle that all men are created equal,” Kennedy said during his speech. But, that “principle” of equality and justice for all, did not reign true for African Americans who were treated like second class citizens throughout their struggle for equality in the 20th Century through the present time period.
When a natural disaster occurred in 2005, it had stirred up racial tensions among the densely populated African American city and the local and federal government. The tensions had existed all along, but in an invisible form. Hurricane Katrina brought several themes of inequality to the media’s attention that had affected African Americans, such as residential segregation, inequality, and wealth disparity.
Hurricane Katrina produced floods that swarmed Louisiana, Mississippi, along with other southern states. But it significantly impacted the below-sea-level city of New Orleans and caused billions of dollars in damages. The damages were not just fiscal, but also apparent to the sociological needs of blacks in the society. They had been affected by the invisible barrier that had been put up between wealthy whites of the city and residential segregation had been apparent just as it had been throughout the past century.
In the era prior to the Civil Rights Movement, segregation had been deemed legal by the federal government. Whites and blacks did not share public areas, including parks, restaurants, and schools. Thus there were differences among the races’ standard of living and blacks were often discriminated against. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks led boycotts and protests among the African American community to stand up for African American rights’. Parks was an initial role player in the Montgomery Bus Boycott that began so blacks wouldn’t have to move to the back of the bus thereafter. King led peaceful protests for the civil rights of African Americans regarding equality of education and other resources.
The Civil Rights Movement inspired activism for a many groups to strive for equality. The efforts of minority groups affected the formation of society thereafter and changed the dynamics of society. Identity politics arose during the time period and advocates of identity politics believed that differences among racial and ethnic groups were critically important (Norton pg. 891). The root of political action came from group politics and to address the needs of the entire group of people, therefore social leaders had to look beyond serving the needs of the individual and instead serve the needs of identity-based groups.
In connection with Hurricane Katrina, the group that warranted justice was the African Americans. Just as it had been in the past, the blacks of the culture felt as though their needs were oppressed. The blacks who were raised in the projects, also known as ghettos, of New Orleans dealt with the residential segregation and stigma that was attached to it. The wealth disparity of the past was reinforced within the structure of the city and poor blacks found their neighborhoods to be over-crowded and of low standard of living. The people who couldn’t escape the floods were stuck stranded in the city. According to a report by ABC News on Aug. 30, about 10,000 people sought refuge in the Superdome, a stadium that would serve as a place of poor and unsanitary living conditions.
The level of response by the government created animosity among blacks toward authority. Many of them wondered what the rescue would have looked like if the storm hit a wealthy area of the city with the same amount of impact and destruction. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated that the U.S. Coast Guard helped save 24,135 people from the city and evacuated another 9,409. Unfortunately, in reports by the Associated Press in August 2008, about half of the people who died were elderly, who probably could not escape the hurricane in time. Of those who survived, hundreds of thousands of them were homeless and lived in shelters or temporary housing, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
This event and the subsequent media attention highlighted many of the persistent and invisible inequalities with regard to race and class that still exist within American society. What caused a significant amount of the inequality among whites and blacks since the beginning of the 20th Century had been the level of discrimination in educational attainment and accessibility.
Kennedy declared in 1963 during his speech on Civil Rights that he would ask the Congress in the following week to commit to a new standard: “Race has no place in American life or law.” He reasoned that the nation would not be “fully free until all its citizens are free.”
In the 1940s, Thurgood Marshall and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) petitioned against Plessey v. Ferguson (1896), which claimed separate, but equal treatment for African Americans in segregated areas from whites (Norton pg. 838). Eventually, the African Americans gained leeway in quality education through Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which reversed the previous doctrine of separate, but equal and led to the integration of schools in America.
During the Civil Rights Movement, there was a great calling for the need of better quality education for African Americans. According to Kennedy, an African American baby born in any section of the U.S. during the 1960s had drastic shortcomings when compared to a white baby born in the same area. He noted in his Address on Civil Rights in 1963, that an African American had half as much chance of completing high school than a white person. In addition, an African American had one-third as much chance of completing college and becoming a professional working man.
The period after the Civil Rights Movement showed more promise for African Americans and equality in America. In the 1970s, most African American activists stressed the distinctiveness of black culture and society (Norton pg. 891). The leaders such as scholars and the NAACP no longer attempted to go against Anglo-Conformity and resented European American standards and values. One way they did this was by growing out their hair and forming Afros, which they claimed had the power of black soul.
The process of rebuilding the community of New Orleans was slow at first, likewise was the Civil Rights Movement and its recognition for equality. But, improvements have been made throughout the years in New Orleans and about half of the original population has returned to the city in 2008 estimated by the research company called RAND. Its schools reopened and the housing situation has progressed. President Barack Obama has taken steps over the last two years to help ease the minds of Americans living in the city of New Orleans. A major task of forgiving the loans provided to rebuild the city was accomplished Jan. 15, according to Reuters, a news agency.
Their loans may be forgiven, but can the American people ever truly come to terms to accept African Americans as more than second class citizens? Can the New Orleans citizens forgive the government for their reaction to the tragedy? Time will tell as it has throughout history during the struggle the African Americans portrayed in the 20th Century. The Civil Rights Movement brought about enough momentum to change aspects of African American life and civil rights. But can a social movement post-Katrina bring full equality for African Americans and other race and minority groups?
“Today we are committed to a world-wide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all to be free,” Kennedy said in his 1963 address. However, it is unknown whether that former commitment will ever truly be carried out by the American people.
Entry filed under: Civil Rights. Tags: african americans, Civil rights, Hurricane Katrina, JFK, New Orleans.
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