Viewing the protest made me feel extremely sad. The entire hour and 53 minutes of the film was spent mostly in tears. After reading the book, putting a face to the horrific things that has happened to these freedom riders was overwhelming. Hence, the protest is immensely justified. It portrayed that all what these men and women wanted was to not be subjugated by white supremacists anymore. It also shows that these active freedom riders wanted to curtail the erroneous idea that blacks were inferior to whites. This protest is very paramount as to it shows that blacks as well as some white people were tired of segregation thus they decided to actively fight the problem from its root cause: The South.
Viewing the response to the protest also
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The protestors did not utilize violence; they were strictly using Gandhi’s method of peaceful non-violence protest. This act of peaceful violence is justified because it illustrated what Diane Nash said: a non-violent campaign should not be stopped due inflictions from violence. However, those responding to the protest used violence because they did not want integration of blacks and white.
The scene on May 19 where Jim Farmer, Martin Luther King Jr, Freedom Riders, and the black community were all gathered at the Baptist Church to reconvene resonated with me. The moment where the white supremacists built a hedge around the Church and wanted to burn the individuals alive was heartbreaking It made me question why anyone would be this wicked. It also got me thinking that the true cause of race and racism is not because it has been institutionalized since the beginning of creation, but this idea of race was and still is indoctrinated into the minds of people. Furthermore, in viewing this scene from another perspective, it demonstrates that white Americans have always found various and sometimes non-clandestine methods to sustain and purify their “white race” from any perceived harm perpetrated by outsiders.
Secondly, the scene about John F. Kennedy wanting the Freedom Riders to stop their plans and go home resonated to me. It just pained me deeply because this part of Kennedy is
Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of
Although there has been a lot of progress made over the past years, there are currently many various problematic issues in this world that are contributed to by discriminatory behaviour and belief systems. Back in 2015, MTV’s White People had the goal of bringing notice to that. The writer of the film, Jose Antonio Vargas, wanted to show caucasians that race was not just an issue for those of color; it affects everyone. The idea for the documentary was excellent, but feel short when delivered. Part of that could come from poor editing, MTV’s documentary history, or even just the lack of variation in those interviewed. This film could’ve been a really good conversation starter, but the entire thing just felt rushed and left me feeling disappointed.
It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that riding the bus can get one hurt and killed and how non-volient acts can lead to so much hate and violence. The Freedom Rides help bring attention to national level. The level of violence is extreme in response to a non-violent movement. The white supremacy was trying its best to make the colored population inferior. The segregation is a symbol of fear and hate. The press and television is a big part in the success of the movement. They help shape the public opinion toward segregation. The media brought the problem to our attention through dramatic and often disturbing photos and reports.
He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.
In the book March, I learned more about the civil rights movement than I had known before. Things like Parchman Farm, the Freedom Riders, and using nonviolence to combat segregation. I now have a better appreciation for the civil rights movement, though I never took it for granted, I feel like I have a greater insight on the journey for equality. March is brutal, sad, empowering, brave and
It is a well known fact that history repeats itself. This entangling repetition can be witnessed in the constant racist and prejudice state of American society. In “The New Jim Crow”, Michelle Alexander is able to bring to light the mistake people have been making when they repeat history, this mistake is the repeated use of racism and prejudice to successfully segregate society in order to accomplish a goal. Appropriately, during the time of slavery, a white lower class man by the name Nathaniel Bacon started a rebellion, uniting the poor whites and the blacks against the white elite. In response to this, the white elite used the repeated tactic of segregating whites from blacks and in their vulnerable state, gave poor whites more power so
As more people are exposed to the arguments of these protesters, pressure mounds onto the government to see the problem and respond to it. In fact, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “not … a single gain in civil rights [was made] without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” Additionally, these individuals are not negatively affecting society because they express the utmost respect for the law and advocate for change peacefully while fully accepting the consequences of their actions. They risk enduring denunciation by the media and being labeled as radicals by others. King describes the process of a nonviolent campaign in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” The self-purification aspect of the nonviolent campaign emphasized an acceptance of the consequences that come with breaking the law such as “[accepting] blows without retaliating” and “[enduring] the ordeals of jail.” The right to peaceful protest respectfully allows these individuals to express their concerns and influence other people with their ideas.
“I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ‘devil’”.
I woke up at my home where my wife was folding our laundry. She told me the neighbors brought me home along with one white man. I looked at her in shock as she told me. His name was Larry Evans; after all this has happened he would have been the last person I could trust. My feeling towards this man were not about hatred but fear. As I sat in my home I could finally see why my community wouldn't turn around. This wasn't the first time that this had happened, this was the only time no one was killed. They were responding to the attack of protesters in Marion. When Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed in cold blood saving his mother from a beating. My community was doing more than
Black protest in America in the 1960s developed into two opposing stances, the non-violence of the Civil Rights movement in the South and the violent protests of the urban poor blacks and black power organisations in the North. In the early 1960's the main protest form was the Civil Rights movement. This was predicated on non-violent protest. It fo0lowed the principles of non-violence successfully used by Mahatma Gandhi
This book was filled with passages and quotes that made a lasting impression on me not only for the content they contained but also the way that they were written. One passage that really stuck with me was the bottom passage on pages 202-203. This passage left an impression on me for many reasons but mainly because it described such violent events that happened in Chicago that I never knew about which was quite a wake up call. I did not even know that race riots ever happened in Chicago and to find out that they were as violent and deadly as they were shocked me quite a bit. Now a days, I never hear anyone talking about the race riots that happened in Chicago which is surprising because by looking back at those times in our history it shows how much our society has grown and improved. These race riots changed the course of Chicago's history which is why it is surprising to me that I have never even heard of them before.
King exposes the institutionalized racism in Birmingham by informing his audience on the immorality of the church. King exposes the cowardice that white churches promotes that
In my opinion these videos contain very haunting subject matter. After watching In the White Man’s Image it provided me a different perspective for understanding the plight of minorities today. Recently in the national media the shootings of Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown, with fatal police encounters with Eric Garner and Sandra Bland, reveal how minorities still struggle for equality. Oftentimes, the media helps to legitimate the inequalities in class and race relations. African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans have been discriminated against for years, but with the crime in our communities and police shootings plastered across the media, they continue to perpetuate negative perceptions. We have seen movies where the Indians
Of course, like many other stories, there were people who did not believe in the nonviolence philosophy. Groups such as the Black Panthers, an organization that’s purpose was to patrol African Americans and protect their people from police brutality, preached violence (“The Black Panthers Party for Self-Defense”). The practices of the late Malcolm X, a black muslim who was a leader of his movement believed that if blacks didn’t receive their right to equality, they should just take it, even if it meant with violence. “The Panthers took the revolutionary philosophy and militant stand
Both racism and violence are large themes of not just, Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, but also of America during the mid-1900’s. Unfortunately, there still exists the same themes in today’s world even though the population is becoming increasingly more educated. Hate and discrimination are taught evils, not innate ones, and in order to prevent the need for stories such as Brent Staples’ to be told, society as a whole must band together to eliminate the occurrence of such a destructive, devastating