THE DAWNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
IN THE USA.
by
REGINALD YOUNG
Sociology
/ Politics / History
The
Dawning of the Civil Rights Movement
in
the USA
For Nazma, Mo, Tatiana and Liberty
Copyright
© Reginald Young
1995.
All
rights reserved.
British
Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A
Catalogue record for this book is available
from
the British Library.
Produced by
Reginald Young
March
1995
Printed
in the United Kingdom
ISBN 1
899968 03 2
THE
DAWNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN
THE USA.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness”. ( Part of the Declaration
of independence - 4 / 7 / 1776. )
"Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally
right for a woman to do." -
(
Sara Grinke )
"We are willing to bear the brunt of the storm,
if we can only be the means of making a break in that wall of public opinion
which lies right in the way of woman's rights, true dignity, honour and
usefulness." {Angela E. Grinke. - July 25, 1835.)
INTRODUCTION
This article is dedicated to the memory of
Sara and Angela Grinke, Virgina Durr - (Alabama), Anne Braden - (Kentucky),
Lillian Smith and Paula Snelling - (Georgia) and all other individuals active
in the civil rights movement who dared to valiantly challenge the dominant
ideologies of individualism, familism, elitism, fascism, sexism, racism and
nationalism, thereby risking their personal safety, lives, families and
communities to be targets of physical, emotional and psychological abuse by
individuals, organisations (private and public) and the state bureaucracy.
Furthermore, the aspirations of these civil rights activists can be defined
more appropriately by the "non-racial" factor rather than "anti-racism".
The size and contents of this article
impose limitations in providing an adequate, comprehensive and thorough
analysis of the numerous complex and dialectical
related historical, political, socio-economic,
cultural and ecological processes that stimulated the origin and ultimate
demise of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.A.
Some factors that played a role in
affecting the Civil Rights Movement are: movement centres, strategic planning,
organising, charisma and pre-existing institutions. (Aldon D. Morris, page 277,
1984.)
However, an attempt will be made to present
a general appraisal of a few factors such as the non-racial aspect of some
organisations that participated in the Civil Rights Movement, charisma, the
role of the media and the cold war in order to describe the emergence of the Civil
Rights Movement.
The term "non-racial" in this
article is used in preference to the terms "black",
"blacks", "white", "whites", "Black and
white", "Black and white unite", "race mixing", "biracial"
and "multi-racial", because of their inadequacy as efficient
analytical tools for the following reasons:
(a) Because of the negatively constructed
connotated meanings and common-sense interpretations associated with these
terms. There is the risk, implicit in the use of these terms, of constructing
the concept of differences that are
defined in a vulgar, dichotomous, over-simplistic, essentialist, reductionist and determinist
manner thereby interpreting the somatic and phenotypical characteristics of
human beings as objects of consciousness hence manipulating their behaviour
attitudes, and political philosophy of protests.
(b) The terms "black" and
"white" are deficient in explaining the psychological, ideological, and
political aspirations, intentions, and actions of the human individual actors who
voluntarily exercised their free will to question, disobey, reject, and
challenge the traditional, assumed racial, racist, elitist, sexist, and
negative stereotypical notions, values, creeds, beliefs and policies of
themselves, other individuals, the state (both federal and local), the
socio-economic, judicial, cultural and educational institutions in a valiant
attempt to deconstruct, combat and negate the negative features of advanced
industrialised free Capitalism, such as discrimination, segregation, racial
bigotry, prejudice, unequal socio-economic opportunities, exploitation,
oppression and fear.
(c) Such crude construction of differences based on superficial images and forms of appearances do not contribute to the appreciation of complex dialectical social, political, economic, cultural and ecological processes that are ever present and not always visible nor obviously apparent, although experienced in everyday common-sense interactions in social life. Rather, such imprecise, emotionally loaded and negatively connotated terms are prone to ambiguities, and only serves to foster further blurring of delicate contradictions at best, and depreciates the complex power relations and potentialities of and between individuals, social movements and a multitude of political, social, cultural, and economic institutions that interact in an intricate web of changing processes at worst.
(c) Such crude construction of differences based on superficial images and forms of appearances do not contribute to the appreciation of complex dialectical social, political, economic, cultural and ecological processes that are ever present and not always visible nor obviously apparent, although experienced in everyday common-sense interactions in social life. Rather, such imprecise, emotionally loaded and negatively connotated terms are prone to ambiguities, and only serves to foster further blurring of delicate contradictions at best, and depreciates the complex power relations and potentialities of and between individuals, social movements and a multitude of political, social, cultural, and economic institutions that interact in an intricate web of changing processes at worst.
(d) Moreover, since Martin Luther King, a leading
Civil Rights activist, always emphasises
"non-violence", an end to unjust laws, desegregation and civil rights
across the U.S.A. It is appropriate to do justice to the Civil Rights Movement
by avoiding reifying the terms "black", "white" and
"race". Additionally, Martin Luther King’s philosophy was regarded as
“colour blind”. (Manning Marable, page 218, 1991.)
Whenever or wherever there is oppression or
tyranny, there will always be a challenge for emancipation however inadequate
or undesirable.
Without oppression there is no fear,
racism, sexism, and elitism.
There is no essential gender, race, class,
nor nation.
The problem is sin not skin.
Socio-economic injustice and inequality are
not because of skin pigmentation or ethnicity, it is in spite of ethnic
categorisation and racialisation of the specifications of the human body.
The discovery of America although motivated
by the loftiest of noble ideals and sanctioned with the best of civilised
intentions with an impeccable constitution that is envied all over the world,
was unsuccessful as a project that aimed at fulfilling and satisfying the
hopes, dreams, basic needs for all, civil rights, social, economic and
political justice and aspirations of human dignity for the majority of its
citizens.
The capitalist model of development was
celebrated and extolled in the U.S.A. as the panacea of socio-economic
insecurity, alienation and human degradation.
In
other words, for ex-slaves, migrants and colonisers the U.S.A. was the
"New World", "the land of opportunities, milk and honey",
"liberty", "equality", "happiness" and "the melting pot".
Ironically, the Civil Rights Movement was
launched because of the failures of the democratic political, economic, social,
cultural and media institutions of the U.S.A. to satisfy the needs of American
citizens.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The Civil Rights Movement was not a single
issue campaign. It embraced the politics of the person, family, community,
culture, ecology, environment, state, media, youth, gender, class and global
development.
The
Civil Rights Movement was part of the historical process of protest,
reform and change to liberalise or humanise the socio-economic environment of
the U.S.A.
As
Andrew Young stated on January 1990.
“The issue (is) not class or poverty,
Martin Luther King appealed to justice not the class struggle” ( Marable, page 185,
1991.)
1991.)
As a form of and part of the protest
tradition in the U.S.A., the origin of the Civil Rights Movement has been
alleged to have begun during the mid-1940’s passing through various stages of
development lasting approximately two decades and reaching its zenith in the
mid-1960’s.
Periodically, the Civil Rights Era has been
identified as:
(a)
(1945-54 ) The initial period of
slow change.
According
to M. Marable, 1984.
“Blacks and an increasing sector of liberal white America came out of the war with a fresh determination to uproot racist
ideologies and institutions at home”. - (Cited by Tony Lancaster, page 19, 1990.)
“Blacks and an increasing sector of liberal white America came out of the war with a fresh determination to uproot racist
ideologies and institutions at home”. - (Cited by Tony Lancaster, page 19, 1990.)
(b)
(1954- 60) The period of growing resentment.
Louis
Lomax: ‘The Negro Revolt’ - 1962, described the mood of a particular family as:
[The Browns, a Topeka, Kansas, Negro
family, got fed up. Their daughter was a student at an inferior all-Negro school;
she had been denied admission to the ‘white’ school . . . . they sued for the right to send their daughter to attend the
‘white’ school.] - Cited by Tony Lancaster 1990.
she had been denied admission to the ‘white’ school . . . . they sued for the right to send their daughter to attend the
‘white’ school.] - Cited by Tony Lancaster 1990.
(c)
(1960-65 ) The appearance of non-violent sincere robust action despite
violent attempts to oppose the movement.
As Marable
brilliantly narrates:
[Thirteen persons, including
Farmer and SNCC activist John Lewis, travelled to the South, leaving Washington D.C. on 4 May 1961. Predictably, the biracial group encounters violent resistance Lewis and another Freedom Rider were assaulted in Rock Hill, South Carolina on 9th of May.
White mobs in Anniston, Alabama, attacked and burned one bus. In Montgomery, Alabama, white racists pulled
Freedom Riders of the bus and administered a brutal beating. In Jackson, Mississippi, Farmer and a group
of 26 other Freedom Riders representing SNCC and SCLC were given 67day jail sentences for sitting in
the whites - only sections of the city’s bus
depot.] - Marable, page 64, 1990.
Some of the main organisations involved in
the battle for Civil Rights illustrated how complex and varied the origins,
interests, and political complexion of the different participants of the Civil
Rights Movement were:
These organisations and their policies
were;
(a) NAACP - National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People.
Founded
in 1909 the NAACP aim was to promote civil rights through peaceful means,
especially through the courts.
(b) NUL -National Urban League.
Formed
in 1911 NUL demanded equal conditions and opportunities for black workers in trade
unions and employment.
unions and employment.
(c) CORE-Congress of Racial Equality.
Founded
in 1942. CORE advocated strong pacifist aims and non-violent protest.
(d) SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
Formed
in 1957 SCLC objective was the promotion of non-violent methods of protest, led by Martin Luther King.
(e) SNCC - Student Non-violent
Co-ordinating Committee.
Founded in 1960
SNCC promoted black and white non-violent student protests and sit-ins.
(f) Black Muslims: Formed in 1930, they
advocated a version of Islam that was fused with
belief
in black nationalism, self defence against violence and the establishment of a separate black state.
NUL, CORE, SCLC, and SNCC (before 1966)
were non-racial to the extent that race, racial exclusiveness or the
racialising of civil rights was not prioritised on their political or
policy agenda to combat discrimination, segregation and human degradation.
It is ironic that those organisations such
as the Black Muslims and early organisations such as the Universal Negro
Improvement Association under the leadership of Marcus Garvey advocated race
awareness, race polarisation and racial segregation while other organisations
such as NUL, CORE, SCLC, and SNCC have been mobilising a highly successful
campaign to desegregate civil society, thereby encouraging political
participation, and creating socio-economic opportunities by heartening various
individuals irrespective of their "racial" or "ethnic"
specification without compromising, fraternising or championing policies that
coincide with those of arrant racists, bigots, segregationists and the right.
The
"non-racial" factor.
This non-racial factor was imperative in
not marginalising, stigmatising and eliminating individuals indiscriminately
categorised or labelled negatively as belonging to an identifiable ‘racial’ or
racialised ethnic group. Also the non-racial factor gives exposure and
recognition to the role of women, youth, working class individuals, students, democratic socialists,
conservatives, Marxists, peace campaigners, idealists - both religious and
atheists, the audience and sympathies of
the various numerous nation states all over the world.
The non-racial factor revealed the
structural, environmental, subjective processes that reproduces, maintains and
perpetuates unequal power, resources and treatment that is so often concealed
under public, political and cultural discourses of oversimplified vulgar
dichotomous reified terms designed to describe differences.
In other words discourses on differences do
not adequately reveal nor explain the relations of power between and among
individuals and institutions state or private, that is a prominent feature of
social existence.
As James Baldwin asserts
[What I find appalling- and really dangerous - is the American assumption that the Negro is so contented with his lot here that only the cynical agents of the Soviet Union can raise him to protest. It is a notion that contains an insult, implying as it does that Negroes can make no move unless they are manipulated.] - James Baldwin - ‘Nobody Knows My Name’, 1961.
[What I find appalling- and really dangerous - is the American assumption that the Negro is so contented with his lot here that only the cynical agents of the Soviet Union can raise him to protest. It is a notion that contains an insult, implying as it does that Negroes can make no move unless they are manipulated.] - James Baldwin - ‘Nobody Knows My Name’, 1961.
An historical example that brilliantly
illustrates the non-racial factor was demonstrated by the tenacious feet of
hundreds of thousands of "powerless", "nameless" members of
the “silent majority” and Civil Rights campaigners who were inflamed with the
pulsating rhythms of the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement ascending to an
exhilarating crescendo “We
shall overcome. We shall all have peace one day. We shall all be free one day.
Deep in our hearts we do believe that we shall overcome someday”.
These were some of the words of the poetry
that expressed the passions, aspirations and desire for change as over 200,000
protesters ( including over 30,000 so-called whites ) celebrated on the famous
“March on Washington” on 28 / 8 / 63.
On arriving in Washington the Civil Rights
campaigners bear witness to the magnificent oration of Martin Luther King - his
best speech ever recorded. Part of which was;
“I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin
but by the content of their character”.
If being "non-racial" is good enough for Martin Luther King’s “four
little children”, it is undeniably good enough for the hundreds of thousands of
human beings who joined him on the historic “March to Washington”.
The
charismatic factor
Regarding the charismatic factor, Max Weber
reasoned that leaders with charismatic powers were able at definite epochs on
history to stimulate multitudes of people not because of organisations or
organisational abilities but because followers were attracted to their visions,
missions and personality in generating forceful movements capable of
challenging and disrupting the normal functions of bureaucratic institutions of
modern society, thus creating revolutionary changes.
The emergence of charismatic leaders to
legitimise leadership status was according to Weber, due to their exceptional
personalities and talent to preach and initiate new challenges and duties from
followers.
Furthermore Max Weber stated that
charismatic movements lose their charismatic procedures in the latter stages of
the movements’ development, and if or when such movements do continue to exist
they lose their distinct qualities and eventually subordinate their operations
to the uniform rationalised processes prevailing in modern society. (Aldon D. Morris page 278-9, 1984.)
Weber’s theory is of limited significance
in recognising and explaining the emergence of the “Southern Civil Rights
Movement” and the role of Martin Luther
King as founder and leader of the “Southern Christian Leadership Conference”
(SCLC), in asserting the autonomous significance of charisma as a core factor.
However, Weber’s charismatic theory
declines to reveal concerns such as organisation and resource mobilisation
which was in motion in the Civil Rights Movement.
Nevertheless Resource Mobilisation Theory
stresses the value of resources essential for the origin and development of the
Civil Rights Movement, such as informal and formal organisations, leaders,
money, people, and communication networks.
In other words the success of any social
movement engaging in protests depends on the ability, skills, competence of
individuals and groups to obtain access to control, manage and mobilise
precious resources.
The SCLC which was led by Martin Luther
King and other community leaders was developed from its inception on the basis
of charisma and organisational resources. In fact the culture of charisma in
the form of the church was already pre-eminent in various local communities
predating the formation of SCLC.
The example of Martin Luther King stands
out very clearly when the Montgomery Improvements Association nominated Rev.
Martin Luther King a 23 - year old Baptist minister from Atlanta and who have
been residing in Montgomery for only a year as president. (Tony Lancaster page
23, 1990.)
Multitudes perceived Martin Luther King as
a great leader with visions of a “beloved community” free from racism and its causes and its
effects. He gave dynamism to the Civil Rights Movement that embraced
individuals across generations, social groups, and ethnically classified
communities with the "non-violent", "non-racial" tactics to implement strategic changes. Even
when his life was threatened with danger during the Montgomery campaign when
his house was bombed on January 1956.
Martin Luther King aptly summed up his
objectives and tactics as:
[Non-violent resistance. . is not meant as a substitute for litigation and legislation, which must continue.
But those who adhere to the method of non-violent direct action recognise that legislation and court orders tend only to
declare rights - they can never thoroughly deliver them. Only when people themselves begin to act are rights on paper
given life. . . . non-violent resistance is effective in . . . disarming opponents.
It exposes their moral defences, weakens their morals and . .works on their conscience. . . non-violence also says you
can struggle without hating. We will not obey unjust laws ...we will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully, because our
aim is to persuade.] - Martin Luther King - ‘ New York Times Magazine’. 5/8/1962. - As cited by Tony Lancaster
page 23-24, 1990.
The charisma, flair, personality, philosophy and wit of Martin Luther King’s leadership of the SCLC's policy of non-violent protests and ultimately the successful campaigning by other leaders and organisations of the Civil Rights Movement were possible because of access to and the professional competence displayed by the intellectuals in maximising the advantages of the mass media. In this respect the Civil Rights Movement may be classified as a contemporary or ‘new’ social movement.
[Non-violent resistance. . is not meant as a substitute for litigation and legislation, which must continue.
But those who adhere to the method of non-violent direct action recognise that legislation and court orders tend only to
declare rights - they can never thoroughly deliver them. Only when people themselves begin to act are rights on paper
given life. . . . non-violent resistance is effective in . . . disarming opponents.
It exposes their moral defences, weakens their morals and . .works on their conscience. . . non-violence also says you
can struggle without hating. We will not obey unjust laws ...we will do this peacefully, openly, cheerfully, because our
aim is to persuade.] - Martin Luther King - ‘ New York Times Magazine’. 5/8/1962. - As cited by Tony Lancaster
page 23-24, 1990.
The charisma, flair, personality, philosophy and wit of Martin Luther King’s leadership of the SCLC's policy of non-violent protests and ultimately the successful campaigning by other leaders and organisations of the Civil Rights Movement were possible because of access to and the professional competence displayed by the intellectuals in maximising the advantages of the mass media. In this respect the Civil Rights Movement may be classified as a contemporary or ‘new’ social movement.
New technology - The role of the media.
The socio-historical significance of the
Civil Rights Movement in America was made popular at a particular historical
conjuncture when fundamental changes were occurring in the political and
socio-economic systems, innovations in electronic communication technologies,
and the increasing expectations and the demands by less privileged individuals,
social groups, and nations world-wide for a higher standard of living.
Traditionally the old social movements’
intellectuals had a direct relationship with the members of the movements
mediating as interpreters, articulators and ideologists of the groups (
collectives ). The audience was limited by the range of physical mobility to
the intellectual. The intellectual’s ability, skills, personal performance, and
power mediating through private networks, had a significant role to play in the
interaction between individual and social movement.
Furthermore, social contact between the
individual, social movement and the public at large was negotiated through the
printed word produced and distributed by the movement and by public appeal.
The political pamphlet was mostly
understood as a way of making contact, creating spontaneous communication
between activists and possible sympathisers.
In other words the written word was an
instrument of recruitment creating opportunities for social movement
intellectuals to improve, and demonstrate their skills at debating and
presenting their policies in direct face to face communication with an
immediate audience.
The new social movement intellectuals rely
more extensively on the role of the mass media to gain access to a
world-wide audience. Contemporary social
movements must be able to organise themselves as credible earnest and reliable
representatives of change by communicating with the general public.
Image building is a marketable commodity,
and in a democratic environment public opinion, consensus, or legitimacy is
dependent on the majority of individuals being persuaded, or educated through
the mass telecommunication media.
Since the mass media is an open currency it
is imperative that a successful social movement must be able to adapt survival
strategies against other interests such as the state, or private monopoly media
corporations, and the internal media established by other social movements.
Modern commercialised computerised advanced
technological mass communication systems reaches distant audiences,
sympathisers, supporters and social movement activists globally. Mistakes are
functional to the communication process. Imperatives such as edited words and
actions, standardisations, routinisations and simplifications of data are
required, and “right - the - first - time” impressions are fabricated to
eliminate correcting.
Organisations prominent in the Civil Rights
Movement such as the NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC were able to exploit independently
the opportunities created by the mass media. They were able to publicise, and
transmit their messages successfully targeting a comprehensive audience despite
the complications resulting from the different tactics and strategies of each
organisation. For example, the NAACP a professional and reformist organisation
oriented towards direct action, views the mass media as a means of influencing
the powerful elites who control, own and run the institutions they attempt to
change, that is the courts and the federal government.
SCLC and SNCC had more advanced
communication networks to co-ordinate the actions of local groups and to
counter the messages of the mass media.
SNCC adapted the most independent stance
towards the established media, thereby pursuing alternative methods and means
of communication in their attempt to operate in local communities.
The mass media also highlighted the
conflicting personalities between the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
When the leadership of SNCC was changed in
1966, the new leaders led by Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown advocated
“Black Power” and racial separation. SNCC programmes for local control and
participatory democracies were more of a menace to the political status quo of
the U.S.A. than to the reformist professionalist approach of the NAACP or the
church centred SCLC.
During the mass media reported speeches at
the 1963 “March on Washington” John Lewis a SNCC’s speaker created tension at the Civil Rights
Movement Rally when he articulated a notorious phrase concerning “burning Jim
Crow to the ground - non-violently”, while Martin Luther King’s speech was well
rehearsed and read from a prepared text blended with his oratory skills
acquired as a preacher. ( R. Eyerman and
A. Jamison page 143, 1991.)
Post World War Two
- The cold war era.
The era during and after World War Two
signalled a more vibrant stage in the development of civil rights demands,
expectations and Supreme Court Legislative decisions. For example, in a famous
case “Smith versus Allwright” on 3 / 4 / 1944 the Supreme court concluded the
use of the all-white primary election by an eight to one margin.
By Spring 1946 in Texas and in Georgia
there were 75,000 and 100,000 “black” registered voters respectively. Also in
May 1946 the High Court ruled as unconstitutional the State Laws requiring
segregation on interstate buses. Finally the famous Brown versus Board of
Education decision of 17 / 5 / 1954 decreed the desegregation of public schools
thereby concluding our forty years of legal legitimisation of Jim Crow
practices. (Robert Weisbrot page 11,1990. M. Marable page 18,
1991.)
The Civil Rights Movement is a complex
socio-historical process predating the spectacular events of the 1960’s era.
The furore of anti-communism that emanated
in the post World War Two period contributed to the victimisation, cajoling and
demise of numerous individuals and members of organisations labelled
“communist” or engaging in “un-American activities” involving in anti-racist
civil rights struggles.
Anti-communist rhetoric divided various
civil rights organisations along class lines, marginalising and thus repressing
non-conformist, anti-racist and anti-capitalist working class leaders and
activists and their ideologies of socialism and communism.
According to Manning Marable:
“The impact of the Cold War, the
anti-communist purges and near totalitarian social environment, had a devastating
effect upon the cause of civil rights and civil liberties”. - (M. Marable page 18, 1991.)
effect upon the cause of civil rights and civil liberties”. - (M. Marable page 18, 1991.)
Paul Robeson a staunch campaigner for civil
liberties including adequate housing projects, against the poll tax, anti-lynch
laws and for rights to organise trade unions, was an example of an anti-racist
civil rights activist that was dishonoured by the anti-communist rage. (Tony Lancaster page 20, 1990
M. Marable page 23, 1991.)
In 1949 at the CIO Convention the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union with its 50,000 strong membership
was expelled for allegedly being dominated by leftist. In the following months
11 progressive trade unions representing almost 1 million workers were expelled
from the CIO.
During 1949, 15 states passed
‘anti-subversive laws’.
By 1951, the state of Tennessee made the
death penalty mandatory for anyone advocating revolutionary Marxist ideas.
For many industrial and rural agricultural
workers experiencing powerlessness, exploitation, and racist abuse and
discrimination, the communists were valiant campaigners for justice, equality,
and desegregation.
However, the so-called “black” preachers
denunciate the Marxists for being atheists. The so-called “black” entrepreneurs,
who were committed to the capitalist free market enterprise socio-economic
system wanted to embellish themselves by accepting, legitimising, and
maintaining the prevailing socio-economic order.
The middle class leaders, preachers and
other professionals made varied mixed responses toward the anti-communist
political, public and social policies of the Cold War Era.
Some condemned communism publicly to obtain
political support from many anti-communist liberals and the Truman
administration. ( M. Marable page 21.
1991.)
The prevalence of middle class interests
within the NAACP oriented the organisation’s programme towards anti-communistic
pro-Democratic Party (despite the anti-working class interests of the
Democratic Party) policies.
The NAACP under the leadership of Walter
White persuaded voters influenced by the “Black” vote appeal to vote for Truman in the
interests of civil rights. Truman obtained 90,000 votes (70% of the “black”
vote ) compared with 21,000 votes claimed by Wallace whose Progressive Party
advocated a better anti-racist policy.
Truman set up a commission on civil rights
in 1946 and declared that “the national government should assume leadership in
our American civil rights programmes”.
(Tony Lancaster page 19, 1990.)
The “black” vote was significant in
providing the margin necessary for Truman’s victory. His promised reforms at
improving race relations in the U.S.A. continued modestly at local and Federal
levels after 1949.
Truman’s anti-communist strategy silenced
and isolated numerous progressives and anti-racists for years and committed
most so-called “black” middle class leaders to ally with the Democratic
Presidents.
Walter White as leader of NAACP conducted a
ruthless opposition crusade towards the American left including the famous
historian, and sociologist W.E.B. DuBois at the outbreak of the cold war. ( M. Marable page 22, 1991.)
Ironically NAACP publicly pretends to
represent the interests of so-called “black” but during Cold War, as DuBois’s
case clearly illustrates, this policy unfortunately did not include those who
challenged the structural causes of exploitation, oppression, socio-economic
inequality, racism and segregation.
Harold Cruise brilliantly declares:
[There are class divisions among Negroes,
and it is misleading to maintain that the interests of the Negro working and
middle classes are identical. To be sure, a middle-class NAACP leader and an illiterate farm-hand in Mississippi or a
porter who lives in Harlem all want civil rights. However, it would be enlightening to examine why the NAACP is not
composed of Negro porters and farmhands, but only of Negroes of a certain type] - Harold Cruise, ‘Rebellion or
Revolution’ cited by M. Marable page 13, 1919.
middle classes are identical. To be sure, a middle-class NAACP leader and an illiterate farm-hand in Mississippi or a
porter who lives in Harlem all want civil rights. However, it would be enlightening to examine why the NAACP is not
composed of Negro porters and farmhands, but only of Negroes of a certain type] - Harold Cruise, ‘Rebellion or
Revolution’ cited by M. Marable page 13, 1919.
Conclusion.
In general, for hundreds of thousands of
individuals and many organisations, the "non-racial" factor polarised and sustained solidarity
within the Civil Rights Movement with an understanding that the real enemy is
sin not skin. In terms of
"commonsense" the civil rights activists who did not pursue
"racial" rights were not
"colour blind" (as alleged contemptuously by the"race" conscious activists) for they were aware of
the obvious superficial differences of the colours of their skins, clothes and
environments but the colours of these biological, cultural and ecological
specifications were not used as objects of consciousness to colour
(perverse) the aims of the campaign for
democratic, social, economic, political, cultural and personal rights with
social responsibility, security, equal treatment without privilege or
discrimination, justice, health and safety, happiness and peace as promised by
the ideals of the American Constitution.
The charismatic factor explained the role
of Martin Luther King played in demonstrating his oratory skills and his vision
supported by non-violent organisational tactics.
In addition the media factor illustrates
the advantages of developing the potential success of a new social movement in
expanding, reaching, and motivating activists, supporters, and adversaries
world-wide providing the social movements’ intellectuals are competent
professionally to obtain a media friendly posture, while maintaining a
credibility as agents for change.
Furthermore, the autonomous nature of the mass
media imposes some alienating conditions on new social movements such as
editorialship, simplification, narrowing of perspectives to attract a
non-initiative audience, indirect and impersonal relationship with the audience,
and competition from other mass media interests attempting to reach the same
public.
Moreover, the Cold War era factor help to
explain the process of excluding individuals, social movements and communities
representing, belonging or sympathising with the ideologies, demands and
interests of the exploited, oppressed and powerless working classes of the
various ethnic, racial, gender and national groupings from the mainstrean
reformist political culture that legitimised the prevailing status quo under
the so-called anti-communist hysteria "reds under the beds" cleansing policy.
The consequences of this anti-communist
policy were:
(1) Ultimately created the foundations that
paved the way for the development of the conservative,
right wing and neo-fascist ideological orientations and polices of the non-working class organisations
that survived the cold war era to the present.
right wing and neo-fascist ideological orientations and polices of the non-working class organisations
that survived the cold war era to the present.
(2) The individuals, leaders and activists
of non-working class organisations were legitimised,
protected and enjoyed
certain benefits from their patronised legal status especially from the social
policies that were implemented (including affirmative action) to manage
"good" race relations
that
resulted from the passing of civil rights legislation during the mid-nineteen
sixties.
(3) Most significantly the exclusion,
undermining, penalising and contemptuous treatment of
individuals, organisations
and social movements labelled as participating in "un-American" activities
from main stream popular political culture and discourse.
from main stream popular political culture and discourse.
Additionally, the post war factor
phenomenon highlights the concessions the U.S.A. administration
was prepared to make by reforming, liberalising and humanising the negative vulgar overt features of
its social policy regarding race relations to achieve a respectable credible status as the new
hegemonic power in the post World War Two world order, thus, mobilising public opinion within the
U.S.A. and striving to secure the support from the elites of the newly emerging independent Asian,
African, and Latin American Nations in a crusade for freedom and democracy while challenging the
evil empire of the U.S.S.R. for global supremacy.
was prepared to make by reforming, liberalising and humanising the negative vulgar overt features of
its social policy regarding race relations to achieve a respectable credible status as the new
hegemonic power in the post World War Two world order, thus, mobilising public opinion within the
U.S.A. and striving to secure the support from the elites of the newly emerging independent Asian,
African, and Latin American Nations in a crusade for freedom and democracy while challenging the
evil empire of the U.S.S.R. for global supremacy.
Bibliography.
Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison (1991)
'Social Movements' , Polity press.
Deepak S. Gaikwad (1987), 'Civil Rights
Movement in America', Deep and deep publications, New Delhi.
Tony Lancaster (1990) 'Civil Rights in
America', Macmillan.
Aldon D. Morris (1984) 'The Origins of the
Civil Rights Movement', The Free Press.
Robert Weisbrot (1990), 'Freedom Bound',
W.W Norton and Company.
Manning Marable (1991), 'Race Reform, and
Rebellion', University Press of
Mississippi.
Sara Evans (1979), 'Personal Politics' Knopf,
New York.
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