Monday, April 27, 2009

LBJ's Speech

What evidence does LBJ offer as proof of the widening economic gap between black and white Americans? How does he explain this gap?How are the sentiments he expressed represented in this cartoon:

In his speech at the Commencement Address at Howard University in 1965, President Johnson (LBJ) offered evidence that the economic gap between African Americans and whites was disparaging. Some of the evidence that he provided was the rising unemployment of young African American men. The unemployment rate for both whites and African Americans in 1948 was 8%. By 1964 African American unemployment was 23%. This is compared to 13% unemployment for white Americans. Also from 1952 to 1963 the median income of African American families compared to white Americans actually dropped from 57% to 53%. This translates into an overall decline in income and economic wellbeing for African Americans.

One of the ways that LBJ explains this widening gap is the unstable African American family. The theory that LBJ came up with was that the instability in the African American family was due to centuries of discrimination and economic oppression at the hands of white Americans. Also he stated that white Americans were to blame for the years of oppression and discrimination. Another way that LBJ explains this widening gap is the constant degradation of African Americans. He states that the constant belittling of this particular group of people affects self-esteem, thus preventing them from obtaining the “American Dream.” LBJ offered that this group of people starts life with a weight on their shoulders that is hard to shed. Discrimination and segregation are the weights of oppression that has essentially kept African Americans from obtaining and maintaining equality. Years of discrimination resulted in economic inequalities that led to unstable family structures. Unstable families resulted in children growing up in poor economic conditions with little expectation for improvement which led to the “cycle of poverty.”

In the first few frames of the cartoon, the weight that is on the African American boy is the weight of slavery of several hundred years. This ball and chain was removed following the Civil War with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Here we see that the boy has freedom from slavery however, without equal rights. The white boy is climbing to a better life on the back of the African American boy. By the fifth frame in the cartoon, the African American boy is standing up for his rights like what was beginning to happen in the 1950s with the Civil Rights movement. However, the white boy is doing what many white Americans were doing; he is saying that he was wrong for all of the years of oppression without true understanding. In the last frame of the cartoon there are many different things occurring. The African American in the top of the frame is asking for help from the white boy to reach the shelf of economic prosperity. The white boy is saying that if he helped it would be reverse discrimination and not consistent with the whole point of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the bottom part of the last frame, the white boy seems to forget that he didn’t get to his level of economic prosperity by himself but rather on the backs of African Americans.

The amendments of the Constitution granted freedoms. However, the purposes of the Civil Rights Acts were to address equality because a person who has freedom but is not treated equally is not likely to feel free. Truly the argument that LBJ made was the difference between civil rights and civil liberties.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Cheerful Robots

According to C. Wright Mills, Americans during the 1950s were Cheerful Robots. Using his excerpt, what you’ve read in the text, and heard in class, why is that description fitting (don’t just repeat or rephrase what’s in the Mills article).

In the article written by C. Wright Mills, who was a sociologist in 1959, he stated that Americans were becoming “Cheerful Robots.” What he was trying to say was that Americans in the early to mid 1950s were not exercising their freedom of choice. Americans were not questioning their government, employers, or developers. They were accepting a way of life that was defined as living the “American Dream.” This lifestyle for middle class America was embraced by the media and was depicted in advertisements. If we consider The Depression on the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, it is quite clear what occurred in the 1950s. America was recovering economically and people wanted to take advantage of a better life. You certainly cannot fault Americans for wanting to take advantage of the economic prosperity that occurred in the 1950s.

During the 1950s, I believe that the Cheerful Robots were the mainstream of society. They lived in suburban homes with white picket fences and a brand new Ford or Chevrolet in the driveway. Inside, the modern appliances in the kitchen made the daily task of preparing the family meals more enjoyable for women. Dad enjoyed the morning commute to work in his new car. On the way home, he looked forward to watching the evening news on that brand new black and white television in the living room. The children, after school, played carefree in the neighborhood and were not expected home for dinner until the street lights came on. It is not surprising that, after twenty years of strife in America, people would cheerfully embrace this lifestyle.

Levittown, New York became the model of this perfect suburban lifestyle. Levittown was a planned community that consisted of 1,700 identical homes and included churches, shopping centers, modern schools, swimming pools, and recreation areas. It was located 32 miles east of New York City on Long Island. Levit and Sons, Inc. began construction in 1947 and Levittown was complete in 1951. This suburban community was so successful that construction of Levittown, Pennsylvania began in 1952.

The problem was that these suburban hamlets were all white communities. The concept was that families living in these communities could acquire material wealth and live in a safe environment. They were far enough removed from the city that issues regarding minorities and equality were of no concern. The nuclear family could focus on themselves rather than on issues that America faced as a nation. In reality, this concept of peaceful serenity escalated the problem with segregation.

It has been said many times that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Whether living in a suburban community like Levittown was the ultimate lifestyle is debatable. However, many Cheerful Robots chose that lifestyle. Many more individuals including minorities wanted that lifestyle. In my opinion, people wanted material wealth and the comfort that comes with owning a home. Even though they knew from the past that nothing is guaranteed. It is hard to fault people who chose to become Cheerful Robots given the alternatives that existed in the 1950s.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Read the excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S. did not immediately ratify the Declaration. What policies and practices within the U.S. conflicted with many of the principles of the Declaration?

The United Nations (UN) approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. On the committee that drafted this declaration was Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the late President Roosevelt. The declaration was broken into two “covenants,” the first covenant discussed Civil and Political Rights, while the second covenant discussed Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The United States (US) would not ratify the first covenant until 1992. To date, the US has not ratified the second covenant. We must understand that in 1948, the US was just beginning to understand the difference between civil liberties and civil rights.

It is important to understand that civil liberties are based on the ideal of freedom. Meaning, the US Constitution granted individuals the freedom to do certain things without restraint from the government. However, this did not apply to private individuals or corporations. On the other hand, civil rights are based on the ideal of equality. The UN Declaration of Human Rights clear intent was to provide equality to all human beings. Therein lies the problem and conflict that the US faced in 1948. For Example, in 1948 as far as the government was concerned an African American has the freedom to publish his or her opinions. However, because of the lack of racial equality, a newspaper was not obliged by the Constitution to publish those opinions. It is my belief that a person who is denied equality is not likely to enjoy much freedom.

The UN declaration contains several principles, or articles, that did not, at the time, coincide with policies and practices in the US. One of the major problems with the declaration was that it conflicted with how white Americans viewed minorities. Article 1 of the UN Declaration states that everyone born is free and has equal dignity and rights. In the US, racial segregation was widespread. Therefore, minorities were not born with the same status as whites. Americans born white had more educational, financial, and social opportunities than African Americans and Hispanics. The American idea that being white was far better than being African American or some other minority violated the rights stated in the other articles of the UN Declaration.

Article 17 of the UN Declaration states that everyone has the right to own property. However, at the time it was difficult for African Americans to own property. White property owners would not set to minorities. White bankers were also not interested in giving loans to minorities. Article 20 states that everyone has the right to freedom of association. However, white Americans did not view African Americans as their equals. Therefore, it was considered taboo for whites to associate with African Americans in public. Article 23 states that everyone has the right to work and the free choice of employment. This was completely inaccurate at the time it was written in the US. Minorities, for the most part, were limited to labor that whites deemed acceptable based on their race. This was due largely to the educational inequities that existed between whites and minorities.

The differences between the UN Declaration and the policies and practices in the US did not only affect minorities but they also affected genders. Article 23(1) states everyone has the right to protection against unemployment. During World War II, many women were employed in positions previously held by men. Once the war ended, many women were forced to forfeit their positions back to the men. Article 23(2) stated everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Women were simply not paid the same as men when performing the same work. White women and minority women were discriminated against due to their gender. Article 26(1) states everyone has the right to education. Due to segregation, it can be argued that education was not the same. In addition, higher education was not accessible to all based on merit. Minorities and white women were denied opportunities to education because of race and gender.

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights had no enforcement mechanism. I believe that the US chose not to ratify this declaration because, as a nation, people were beginning to realize the severe racial inequality that existed. Unfortunately, it would take many years to reverse the discriminatory practices that existed in 1948. In 1954, two landmark cases were decided based on civil rights rather than the civil liberties of the Constitution. In Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the courts decided that segregation in public education was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Similarly, in Bolling vs. Sharpe (1954), the courts decided that the federal government violated the due process clause of the 5th amendment to the US Constitution. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed preventing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, etc. On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was patterned after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, was signed into law. It is important to note that the US Civil Rights laws are not entitlements. The idea is to focus on an individual's abilities rather than their race, color, national origin, disability, etc. These are the reasons that today equal employment opportunities are the law.