In America, we have been fighting racial injustice around the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The land we took from Native-Americans to be seeded and tilled by slaves is built on the backs and bodies of these two minority groups. It was not until the Civil Rights act of 1964, that people of different skin tones could legally stay in the same room.
Today we are facing pandemics, police brutality, and unequal opportunity. We have greatly progressed as a country around these issues and are continuing to do so, as has been proven in recent weeks. Here is a brief history lesson on dark points of inequality in our country and how citizens banded together to stop or null them.
Slavery
One of the most controversial topics that every American has held their head for, slavery in America lasted for more than 100 years. It is estimated that in the early 18th century alone more than six to seven million African people were taken from their homes and brought over to the US.
In one of the earliest accounts, historians note after the American Revolution many states in the north did not rely as heavily on slave labor and even empathize with their plight like how the British treated America as a whole. There were also roughly 5,000 soldiers and sailors during this time that were black.
But empathizing and action are different. When the electoral college was enacted slaves only counted as three-fifths a person according to History.com. It wasn’t until the industrial era that America started realizing that a person as property might be wrong. When Lincoln was elected president he signed the emancipation proclamation, freeing all slaves. Due to industrialization, crops such as cotton and tobacco became priceless, as well as the free labor many of these farmers possessed.
This declaration made some of the very wealthy people in the southern states angry, causing a rise in militia and separation of the states into two factions, The Union and the Confederacy. The confederacy consisted of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
During this time is when people like Harriet Tubman, founder of the underground railroad, came to shine and open people’s eyes to the atrocity of slavery. During her time she served as a spy for the Union helped so many people, but she was never granted a pension for her efforts.
Jim Crow
Still fresh in the minds of Americans was the aftermath of Union victory. Though on paper slavery was abolished this didn’t mean that “colored” people were equals. All manner of discrimination and the rise of the KKK wrought fear in the hearts of many southern African-Americans. You couldn’t use the same bathroom, school, water fountain, eatery, and especially no intermingling.
After the nail in the coffin for equal rights was hammered in with Plessy V. Ferguson, this oppression rose great and influential people that will forever be remembered. People like the peaceful Martin Luther King, to his more aggressive counterpart Malcolm X. Though this country was founded on bloodshed, Martin Luther King sought to seek equality through peaceful protest. When the police broke out the firehouses, protestors wore out their swimsuits. When good men and women were killed, they persevered and did not raise arms but voice.
The other major point was persistence. Protests and voices never faltered no matter how beaten down or deterred they were. People were willing to risk their lives so future generations could use the same facilities as white people. To finally stop being subhuman and be equals in every right. Martin Luther King was arrested 20 times and assaulted within an inch of his life at least four according to nobelprize.com.
Japanese Internment
Though the last two topics were about mainly African American history, discrimination doesn’t just cater to one race or belief. Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II. People like George Takei can remember being forced out of his home because of the way he looked.
The original idea was proposed by Lt. General John DeWitt. Originally calling for the detainment of those with German and Italian descent should be incarcerated as well, but this did not take as well. It was decided by 1942 that all “Japanese people” be rounded up and sent to relocation centers. People like Milton S. Eisenhower, who was originally in charge of the War Relocation Authority, resigned from his position after heavy criticism of what he called “incarceration of innocent people.”
Some accounts sound just like the roundup of the Jewish people by the Nazis. Many were taken from their homes and transported by train to march miles to camps like the one located in New Mexico. There are even accounts of people being shot if attempting to flee like.
Though the camps were kept in place until a little after the end of the war, the government did give reparations of up to $20,000 each to some 80,000 people detained at these camps.
The Southern Border
Illegal immigration and the southern border have been heated topics in American politics as of late. Many people try to live the American dream for a better life are being thwarted by tight regulation and the difficulty to just legally work here. Though this wasn’t always the case. Mexico and America have had rocky relations since the westward expansion. States like California, New Mexico, and Texas came from taking the land from the Mexican government. After Texas declared itself independent and joined the United States in 1846, President James K. Polk declared war on Mexico after false accusations that Mexico invaded American territory.
This isn’t the first instance of this type of behavior either. During the second world war, many people from Mexico were encouraged and given the incentive to move to America, and many already living here enlisted to fight for the US military. A declaration and pact called Bracero were also made to send 300,000 Mexican works to help till the land in the US. After the war ended there was a campaign that deported over 4 million Mexican and Mexican-Americans to Mexico.
Today we are dealing with illegal immigration and things like Dreamers and a difficult and discriminate system for legal immigration. Adults brought here as children, who have only known American life, are having issues because their parents came here illegally. Why punish the child for the parents’ sin? If we do this then we reinforce the idea that everything we fought for means nothing.
How They Relate to Us Today
After restrictions started lifting for the coronavirus pandemic, a man named George Floyd was detained and suffocated to death under the knee of a police officer. Having it all caught on film it spread like wildfire causing civil unrest. This led to protests all over the country, some peaceful and some turned full-blown riot. Many businesses were destroyed in an already turbulent time because of these actions.
Equality is a hill and transitional. It requires everyone’s attention and effort. Do not become compliant, but do not give a reason for hate or violent action either. Peace can have a more powerful effect than violence as proven by Martin Luther King. Constant addressing of issues like Black Lives Matters will help bring more peace, love, and unity within our nation. And, by all means, we need more unity, we need more love, and we need more peace in this world. It is up to individual citizens to help drive action and make a change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74nWJRsmxyM&feature=youtu.be
You don’t have to be well-versed in politics to know when something is morally wrong. The Civil Rights Movement should not be a partisan issue in any way shape or form. This is not the 1960s and certainly not the 1800s so there should be no excuse whatsoever. Both sides embracing these issues empathetically with understanding and love without exacerbating the situation for political gain is the solution. Both sides need to take action and improve. If we do this, we should be known truly as THE UNITED States of America, the Free.