In the Civil Rights Movement I have been educated a great deal. We’ve gone from movements such as March on Washington, Montgomery Boycott, Freedom Rides, and many others, which led to many achievements. These successes can be classified as Brown vs. Education which overturned “Separate but Equal”, buses are desegregated which Rosa Park led this movement, and when Martin Luther King arguing that individuals have the moral right to disobey unjust laws. In this unit, I became educated on quite a few lessons. I received more knowledge by coming upon Malcolm X, and his points of view. I do agree with his realistic ways, such as to take action now. He stood up for what he believed in, and even though he saw himself, as working as an individualist and the thinking that we should be the best of our abilities so others will be forced to look up to you, I see that as very admirable belief. From him, I took away the ideology that you shouldn’t always just sit back and let yourself be pushed around, make a change and do what you think is right. Martin Luther King believed in love, and using non-violence instead of straying to the dark, hateful side, hat tells you a lot about what type of person he is. At times it is hard to not to walk the path of violence since it is easily done but approaching your enemy with open arms is very difficult. He was a strong character for always stay positive and unifying the black community together to get their people out of poverty and attempt to achieve equality. What really stood out to me throughout this whole lesson were the strategies they used. The homosexuals, disabled used confrontation, Rosa Park and Martin Luther King participated in civil disobedience, and many white activist led sit ins in popular places to eat at to show they didn’t believed in segregation and didn’t enjoy the idea of racism. Either way they got the job done, In my understanding the general lesson this unit wanted to teach us is you can make a change even if it’s just one individual. If you believe what you’re doing is moral, go for it despite what society or others try to pressure you to do or not to do.
We are far from equality and I’m sure it is quite evitable. In order to achieve equality we need to practice equity. Equity is finding out what people’s needs are and assisting them in every way possible so they’re satisfied. As we all know, many Americans are unemployed, do not have health insurance, and are close to becoming homeless. What’s even more unjust is the rich are getting wealthier. In class, we took a look at a recent survey produced in 2009. This survey told us that the middle-lower class wages are remaining the same, while the CEO’s pay have risen up by 45%. I don’t see that as very fair, we took another look at a survey and an average American who earns $30,000 a year for their income in spending at least $60,000. Where is that $30,000 going to? This is not justified; the rich should share their wealth towards the people who really need it to feed their families. The government should pay attention to the people who aren’t so rich and in power, find out what they really can use such as insurance, unemployment benefits, retirement funds, and education for prisoners so these people don’t have to remain in the horrible positions they are in. Once the government provides better education, funds towards disabled/elderly care, and health insurance to those who don’t have it we will slowly go from their to raise those of lower-middle class to higher, better positions.
Some of the events stood out to me, not only because it led a huge change but also I find it still exist in today’s times. Back in the day, White Flight was in motion, which meant that many Caucasians migrated from diverse areas into a ‘better’ area where more of their type lived. It wasn’t intentional; they just felt more comfortable being with their own race. This still goes on today, many white people have left places such as Fremont in favor for Pleasanton, Danville, and San Mateo, where a lot of white people reside. Those areas are prosperous, while places like Oakland are living in poverty. The ideas and goals of the civil rights movement was to gain equal rights, and not have so much racial discrimination going on. African Americans got the right to vote, women were seen as equal, and Mexican farm workers got better working conditions. All is well, right? We still suffer from many serious issues as of today. African Americans gained all the rights protected under the constitution yet it’s hard to explain why more African Americans are sentenced to death row, rot in prisons, and are arrested more than white Americans. It is institutional racism. Women these days are able to hold such jobs they were never allowed before such as becoming a doctor, lawyer, or head of many companies. More women go to college today, and finish school yet they’re being paid less than men and not many women are mechanics, engineers, or hold the position of a ‘man’s job’. In the Occupy Oakland Movement many American occupied the streets to have demonstrations of economic inequality, homelessness, and corporate excess. This connects with March on Washington Movement where people marched towards Washington D.C. in hopes for freedom and for jobs. It is quite similar to today where everyone is just looking for equality and jobs so they can be financially stable. All in all, in order to be a ‘city upon a hill’ we need to have better treatment of our people if we ever want to reach the goal of equality.
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