Author Archives: dw156902

What changed the way people think? Or perhaps, what changed the way the government thinks?

by dw156902

“The Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan had been posing the question: ‘Is the government run by a few big interests looking out for themselves?’ The answer in 1964 had been ‘yes’ from 26 percent of those polled; by 1972 the answer was ‘yes’ from 53 percent of those polled… The courts, the juries, and even judges were not behaving as usual. Juries were acquitting radicals: Black Panthers, whom the government had tried in every way to malign and destroy, were freed by juries in several trials.”

Over the course of eight years, the general population’s opinion of the government has started to change in an extreme manner. More than double the amount of people said “yes” to whether or not the United States government is only looking out for themselves in 1972 than in 1964. People started to stray from the previous belief that the government’s sole purpose is to protect their citizens when the Vietnam War began. When people start to lean towards a certain opinion, the only way to abolish it is for the government to show their sincerity in bringing a peace of mind to its people. However, that was not the case because of the Watergate Scandal that exposed the hidden agendas of the beloved President Richard Nixon. President Nixon decided to resign before he could be impeached by the Senate. The preceding President then decided on giving Richard Nixon a pardon for his crime, which riled up the people even more. How can such a scheming person be pardoned at a time when the government was being slandered? Well this wasn’t the only case of a “villain” being let off the hook during the 1970s. Several people were put up for trial for their misdoings, particularly the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were a group of radical African Americans who resorted to violence towards local police force. The point of their party was to push back the oppression that was forced upon them due to their ethnicity. When the Black Panthers were tried, they were acquitted by the jury because the majority of people believed that the government’s behavior was more devious than that of the Black Panthers.

Racism in the South (1902)

by dw156902

“… A colored woman, however respectable, is lower [in status] than the white prostitute. The Southern white woman will declare that no Negro women are virtuous, yet she placed her innocent children in their care…. (An Anonymous Black Woman For the Record Chapter 21 Page 82).”

 

The middle of the 20th century was a time well-known for the activists for racial equality to step up and show the world a piece of their mind. However, before the time of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, African Americans were not represented or heard for their concerns on inequality within America, the land of the free. For all the Whites cared for, Black people didn’t have any problems with what was happening to them. In the South, it wasn’t unusual for Blacks to be lynched. For a woman who lived in a white neighborhood, she must have been living in terror for her and her family every day. Although everyone in her area probably had the same income, everyone looked down on her family because they were Black.

According to the quote, she claimed that even White prostitutes are more respected than a Black housewife, like herself. Black women during her time faced double oppression; Whites looked down upon them for being Black, and Black men thought Black women were inferior because they were women. Knowing that she was the lowest of the low, her neighbors still left their kids to be babysat by someone who was worse than a prostitute. They used her for these kind of tasks, in some way, continuing to instill their authority over her family for being the inferior household in the neighborhood.