Civil Rights Assessment

We have learned many major lessons from the civil rights movement but one of the lessons that I learned really well is that no matter how much we fight for equality, it is never enough for this country because it seems that we can never achieve the same rights because of whether it be race or economically. As much as America makes itself look good, it is not, because of the history of violence and cruelty that it has had on innocent people like African Americans and other races . Based on what I have learned in class, I believe this because civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have been through alot of violence and cruelty because they fought for equality.

America struggles with equity and equality today because people of this country cannot resist being racist, nor can they resist discriminating others because of their economy.For example, the shooting of Oscar Grant, where the officer was eventually released was unreason- able because if that was an African American that shot a white man, maybe that man would stay in jail longer, why, because he was African American. According to the article in the SF Gate, his case was a "murder", hmm....I wonder why the court released him so quick after he murdered a man that was of a different race "unlawfully and intentionally"(SFGate). This relates to how America still struggles with equity and equality because the government cannot make just and equitable acts to reach an equal outcome, and that is exactly how we need to improve in being equitable to reach equality. We all know that equality was wanted by Martin Luther King Jr., but even though he made so many accomplishments, there are still unequal rights today in this very country. For example, in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson(1896), they withheld "separate but equal," but that was outlawedin 1957, three years before MLK Jr., "I Have A Dream" speech, by the case of Brown vs. Education which said that there was no "separate but equal", but even though today we are not deprived of public schools or going to public stores without being told to sit somewhere else. Malcolm X also wanted equality, but he preferred it the more aggressive way to get rights of citizens, not with MLK's nonviolent protests. MLK Jr.'s Non-Violent Protest was very successful because lunch counters were desegregated. On the other hand, Malcolm X's beliefs that equal rights were possible when he saw the Nation of Islam and how they were all friendly, motivated others to follow Malcolm X for equal rights.

These events still relate to today because we fight for equal rights today, whether it be racially in some, but today, we mainly fight for economic inequality. This connects to the Civil Rights Movement because that Martin Luther King Jr. protested for equal rights on streets in his non-violent protests, people have been fighting for economic equality in the Occupy movement. Another example is Project C in Birmingham, where the city was bombed and the comparison to that is the Occupy Oakland flash bombs where people were severely injured for peaceful protesting. All these events connect to the Civil Rights movements because people are and were deprived of their rights and they were and still are fighting for it no matter how much they are injured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH7xc6u18Mw

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/15/MNJE15A6O2.DTL