Tag: racial

04/27/11

Violent Outbreak of the 60s

Injustice and racial equality still existed in the sixties. Many political activism and social changes were made before this time, but America was not free of prejudice (some argue that it still isn’t  today) . The violent outbreak of The Watts in 1965 shown the frustration of racial change during the sixties in Los Angeles. This event marked an uprising violence of black ghettos in the nation. An estimated 50,000 people took part in  attacking police and fireman and burning buildings. 15,000 police were involved to restore order, 900 were injured, 35 people dead, and $30 million worth of property were damaged.  Violence also outbreak in Harlem and Detroit causing some theorists to say that the country was in danger of being torn apart by racial antagonism.

04/9/11

Martin Luther King- “I have a Dream”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA

Martin Luther King is the most well known civil rights warrior who fought against the racial injustices against black people. King became an active in civil rights campaign during his protest in the Montgomery bus boycott, in which a black woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus. The Montgomery bus boycott inspired King to fight racial inequality with non-violent protests. Consequently, many of Martin Luther King’s speeches and movements emphasize the black citizens as part of America, appeal to Christians with ideas from the bible, and scream for the establishment of freedom for other races.

The most famous speech given by Martin Luther King, “I have a Dream”, echoed the demand of equality and freedom, and envisioned the peace among whites, blacks, and people of other races. King’s speech also indicated that even in the 1960s, racial discrimination carried out by the white majorities and state governments were still prevailing. The same sort of racial suppression still persists even though the Civil War had ended one hundred years ago.