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Ethical Issues In Black Panthers

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This week’s topic, Ethics, Politics, and Civil Rights, is one that stirs the pot of controversy. Just the mention of politics, civil rights, and African Americans, in the same breathe, evokes deep emotions, hatred, and cultural pride. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and during my elementary school years the Black Panther party had a large presence in my predominately black community. The Panthers had a headquarters in the neighborhood, and their activities were well-known throughout the community. Although older members in the community didn’t necessary get involved with the Panthers, younger, idealist, were drawn to the Panthers, and their “Black Power” mantra, also echoed in a popular song at the time, James Brown’s "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud” (1968). I was too young at the time to get involved with the Panthers, but was fascinated by all the ruckus they stirred up, and the cool posters in their headquarters windows. …show more content…

Gone are Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., Jim Crow laws, “in-your-face-racism,” and the separate but equal rhetoric, and in are, unprovoked shootings and killings of blacks by law enforcement, racial profiling, stealth racism, and the N-word (instead of nigger), under the guise of justice and equality for all. As noted in the readings this week, the Civil Rights movement did open the doors for political dialogue (Morris, 1999). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ushered in laws banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The law also prohibited state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion or national origin. The Civil Rights movement of the fifties/sixties is an example of the execution of a successful large scale grassroots social movement

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