CIVIL RIGHTS: PART 2 MLK AND MALCOLM X

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but

by the content of their character.” 

BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS U.S.A

When Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. signed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 people thought that the fight for Civil Rights was over. After all, the Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate based on RACE, COLOR, RELIGION OR SEX. But they were wrong!

1964 was NOT the end. It was the BEGINNING! Even after LBJ singed the 1965 Voting Rights Act which made things like Poll Taxes and Literacy Tests illegal, the fight for full equality was not over. Some say it is still not over.

BACKGROUND:People thought that after the Civil War everything would be OK between the races but the problem was that as the end of the Civil War was approaching Abraham Lincoln got assassinated (1865). His Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, did not share the same, um, convictions regarding equality and the treatment of the Confederacy in the South. President Johnson advocated for a much softer approach to Reconstruction in the southern states now that the war was over. As a result, states like Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Florida and Arkansas were free to treat the newly freed blacks as however they wanted to.

The 13 th Amendment freed the slaves.The 14 th Amendment made every freed slave “a citizen”

The 15 th Amendment gave every freed slaves the right to vote

Well, these Southern boyz were not gonna let that happen. There was no way these southern gentleman were gonna let 4,000,000 ex-slaves vote and elect black Congressmen, black State Senators, and god forbid, a bi-racial president with Hussein as his Middle name! And so the South enacted Jim Crow Laws

JIM CROW LAWS* Jim Crow was NOT an actual dude. The phrase goes back to 1830 when a white actor painted his face black (blackface) for a comedy routine. His fake name was Jim Crow.

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896): The Supreme Court case that famously made “separate but equal” legal.

Plessy was a guy from New Orleans who was riding a train, but who was also 1/8th black. As a result, the good state of Louisiana made him sit in the back of the train, in a separate rail car. 1/8 black was still black in Louisiana (Great scene about this from the movie ‘Free Sate of Jones’ starring Matthew “Shtrak” McConaughey!)

The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in favor of “separate but equal”. This would not be overturned until 1954 with “Brown vs The Board of Education” when the Supreme Court ruled that “separate” CANNOT be “equal”.

Now that the Southern states had the Supreme Court behind them, they could do whatever they wanted. And who’s really gonna check if black bathrooms and white bathrooms are “equal”. All we know is that they’re separate.

JIM CROW LAWS-BLACK CODES- DISENFRANCHISEMENT- Colored water fountains- Colored bathrooms- Movie theatres, restaurants, diners etc.

- NO INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES ALLOWED (only allowed in 1967)- NO INTERRACIAL ADOPTIONS (Gay men CANNOT give blood today!!!!!!)

- Unequal schools…………………………..- Unequal housing………………………….- Unequal policing……………..sanitation…………….water………….electricity.

- 2 AMERICAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Poll Tax: Makes you pay before you can vote. They knew the newly freed slaves were poor and so they tried to prevent them from voting financially. Some say this is still going on with new ID and Driver’s License requirements in the South but I don’t know if it’s the same thing. We’ll discuss it in class.

- Literacy Test: Had to pass a reading/writing exam before you could vote. They knew ex-slaves were not allowed to learn how to read or write so this was how they would prevent blacks from voting. (Great scene from the movie ‘Selma’ with Oprah Winfrey).

EXAMPLES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS

1. Church girls bombing: September 15, 1963, -BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

4 members of the Ku Klux Klan planted 15 sticks of dynamite beneath a predominantly black church, killing four black girls and injuring 22 others.

Described by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as "one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity" (The Charleston black church bombings last year in South Carolina were a reminder of this)

Although the FBI had concluded in 1965 that the bombing had been committed by four known Ku Klux Klansmen, no prosecutions took place until 1977, when 1 of them was tried and convicted of the first degree murder. 2 more were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment but ONLY in 2001 and 2002. It took a long time, and this is called, literally, ‘injustice’!2. Lynching : 4000 people were lynched in the South. In fact they just completed a

Memorial to all the lynching victims in Washington D.C. (Look it up online)

If ur good we will watch the lynching scenes from ‘Django Unchained’ or ‘Mississippi Burning’

They lynched you for looking at a white women, talkin back, voting, being accused of anything really. Sometimes they cut off your testicles first and let you bleed to death.

THE Ku Klux Klan:

- Started during the Civil War- Anti-black, anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, anti-gay

- 10,000 lynchings easy!!!- Still around and given the right to protest by the 1st Amendment

- Now known as “white-power” or “alt-right” groups. Their #1 guy David Duke ran for Governor of Louisiana and is still very politically active

- Great scene from “DJANGO UNCHAINED with Jamie Foxx!”

The BIG Question Was: How Should We Deal With This?On the one hand you had Martin Luther King Jr who wanted to use peaceful methods of non-violence, and Civil Disobedience. On the other side, you had people like Malcolm X and the BLACK POWER movement who thought that change was coming too slowly and we needed a more militant approach. Some, like the Black Panthers, even advocated for violence.

PEOPLE: MLK VS. MALCOLM XMLK and Malcolm X had completely opposite views regarding Civil Rights. MLK wanted to do it through non-violence just like Gandhi did in India, Nelson Mandela in South

Africa, or even Jesus in the New Testament. Don’t forget that King was a Christian minister.

Malcolm X was more militant. He felt that negotiation with the white man was useless and that eventually violence would become necessary. He also felt that blacks and whites couldn’t live together and what we really needed was 2 Americas.

Malcolm X didn’t really change his views until he went to Saudi Arabia as part of the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca (X became a Muslim while in prison). While in Mecca (the city where Muhammad was born in 530 CE) Malcolm X saw black Muslims, white Muslims, yellow Muslims, brown Muslims, red Muslims and everyone else living together and praying together. From that point forward he relaxed his militancy and became friends with MLK. Unfortunately they both got assassinated, as many great men do.

MLK was also a genius! He KNEW that the camera and the reporter were Civil Rights’ best friend. He KNEW that the pen is mightier than the sword and that a picture is worth 1000 words. If only the world could see what was happening to blacks in the South, they would know who the real victims were.

He KNEW that if the struggle stayed non-violent, the racists in the South would respond with violence and because the press was always there, the WHOLE WORLD would see how awful the racists in the South were.

They would see blacks as the victims of violence in the South!!!

If black protestors reacted violently, however, America would have the excuse that they needed to keep segregation alive and continue the narrative of blacks as the aggressors.

**The KEY was not to react violently, but let the cops and other racists HIT you. Let the cops sick the dogs on you and then, let the newspapers photograph it and let the WORLD see!!!!!

Trivia: BOTH MLK and Malcolm X knew they were going to die for the struggle. They both foreshadowed their own assassination. They still persevered. I guess they thought there was something more important than one’s life.

Mlk: April 4th, 1968 in Memphis, TN (killed by James Earl Ray, a racist southern sympathizer)Malcom X: Feb. 21st, 1965 in Harlem (killed his own followers just like Julius Ceasar)Mahatma Gandhi: Jan. 30, 1948 after India and Pakistan became 2 separte countriesLincoln: April 15th, 1865 Ford’s Theatre, Washington D.C.

HIS VIEWS ON CIVIL DISOBEDIANCE go back to Henry David Thoreau- Use disobedience but DO NOT HURT PEOPLE VIOELNTLY!!!!!!!!!!- His essay, Civil Disobedience, was written in response to slavery, which any intelligent

person could see was evil, and yet so many did nothing about!- He did not want to participate in injustice by simply acquiescing to whatever the law

was. Break it if it is unjust but do not be violent!!

“There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves

children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing.” Henry David

Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

MLK:

(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) Assassinated before his 40 th birthday

Born in Atlanta and went to Morehouse College for his Undergrad. Actually got his PhD at Boston University cuz that’s where I went! His

papers are still on display. Do you know where the Einstein papers are…..I’m not telling.

Baptist Minister (like his dad MLK senior) who believed in being a good Christian: charity, non-violence, compassion.

Named after the original Martin Luther who separated Christianity from Catholicism with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Why did he separate the two? Because he felt that the Pope, the Catholic Church, and all the priest were corrupt and walking away

from the word of God (indulgences and buying your way into heaven, the Crusades etc. the show ‘Preachers of LA’)

MLK QUOTES:I. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?

II. The time is always right to do what is right.III. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere (my favorite)

IV. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

MLK was one of the great ones: The sages of old, the Bodhisattvas, 1. Socrates2. Gandhi3. Jesus

4. The Buddha5. MLK

6. Nelson Mandela…….7. Mother Theresa

8. Is there anyone today????????????????????????

Mohandas (or Mahatma) Gandhi once said:“They say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth……………………but then the WHOLE WORLD would be blind and toothless!”

GANDHI QUOTE: “Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.  (This is one of the most powerful statements I have ever read. Speaking it is one thing but attaining it…takes many lifetimes)

MLK was BRILLIANT! How so? He knew that if the African-Americans of the South refused to get violent against their attackers, and let them attack instead , his people would be seen as the victims. Whereas if even ONE reporter shoed a black man reacting violently, it wouldn’t matter who was at fault, the world would see the black man as the aggressor and get exactly the rational they needed for keeping segregation alive.

MLK knew that the people would view African-Americans as the attackers. The people of America would have the excuse they needed to keep the people separate. Thus, non-violence was the KEY to Civil Rights.

MLK TACTICS: THE PRINCIPLES OF NON-VIOLENCE

SIT-INS (Movie ‘Selma’)Martin Luther King was GENIUS when it came to SIT-INS. He would send teenagers (black AND white) to restaurants in the South that didn’t let blacks sit in the front. They would then PEACEFULLY sit down and order a hamburger and a milkshake. MLK knew that the waiters, waitresses, cooks and customers COULD NOT respond normally. He KNEW that they would respond with violence and disrespect. And MLK made sure that the newspapers, the cameras and the reporters were there to witness the whole thing. He KNEW that public opinion would be swayed when they saw calm teenagers being abused for doing nothing other than ordering a milkshake and some fries!

*Again, a picture is worth 1000 words and the reporter and his camera were the BEST-FRIEND of the non-violent Civil Rights struggle

FREEDOM RIDES:In 1956 the Supreme Court made segregation on buses illegal (After the Rosa Parks Montgomery Bus Boycott). But do u think that stopped these redneck bus stations from discriminating and beating black riders? Think again!

(Rosa Parks: U know the story: Refused to give up her seat to a white man. She felt that she deserved to sit her tired legs down.- MLK and the NAACP organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott- Lasted 385 days- Rosa Parks died just a few years ago.

LED TO THE DESEGRAGATION OF BUSES BUT…….It took the Freedom Rides to get to the next step!!!! (1956)

Groups of black (and white) teenagers would leave High School and college and take these Freedom Rides down South to document and photograph the abuses happening. Racist in the South would punch the riders and even set the buses on fire. (KILLING

BLACK AND WHITE TEENAGERS FOR RUDING A BSUE DOESN’T LOOG GOOD ON THE EVEBING NEWS. We see that in Vietnam as well)

1965: 52,000,000 TV’s 9/10 homes!!!!The NEWS was on in 25,000,000 homes every night!

SIDE NOTE: The media is known as the 4th Estate , or 4th Branch of Government, in this country because of how powerful it is. That is why it so dismaying to see how pathetic news coverage in this country has become. Compare the # of times the terms ‘Climate Change’ or ‘Student Loans’ are mentioned and compare it to ‘Twitter’ or ‘Kardashian’. Compare ‘migrants’ or ‘labor law’ and compare it to ‘football’. Here is a quote that sums up the power of the news:

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”- MLK 

BACK TO FREEDOM RIDES: If it wasn’t for these courageous teenagers the world would NEVER have known that just cuz the Supreme Court made a rule, doesn’t mean the racists in the South are gonna follow it.

After these Freedom Rides, JFK was FORCED to send Federal Troops to the bus companies and bus stations and ENFORE THE GODDAM LAW!

FREEDOM SUMMER OK, so now every African-American in the South has the right to vote. But can they? Will they? There are no more poll taxes and literacy tests but there is still the KKK, and massive voter intimidation.

The Freedom Summer was a period in 1964 when college volunteers, black and white, would go to states like Alabama and Mississippi and register blacks to vote, and help them navigate the voting process.

The movie Mississippi Burning is based on the true story of 4 Civil Rights workers who were killed in the bayous of Mississippi. It stars Gene Hackman and William Defoe (from Spiderman) and is must-see viewing. The people of Mississippi (and Louisiana, Arkansas and the rest) were NOT gonna let blacks vote because in some counties AFRICAN-AMERICANS OUTNUMBERED whites.

And yet there were NO black judges, No black School Board members, NO black sheriffs, and NO black local, county or state officials. There were a couple in Congress.

You have heard me say this again and again: the ONLY way to change this country, and this world, is VOTER TURNOUT. Unfortunately, only 50% of eligible people vote, and in Midterm and Local elections it’s even lower. 2016 was the LOWEST voter turnout in 20 years!!! And those who need the MOST help vote the LEAST! In 1961 Mississippi, only 6.7% of African-Americans were even REGISTED to vote. In 2016, 10 MILLION people aged 18-24 failed to register to vote. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF ladies and gentlemen!

ALL THIS was led by the BIG 4 organizations: NAACP, CORE, SNCC, SLCL

All had the same MISSION STATEMENT: "to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background”

1. CORE: The Congress on Racial Equality (Sound like the ANC, no?!)- They were the ones who organized the Freedom Rides and Freedom

Summer. Only 1/3 of them were black, the other 2/3 were white. And in 1963 they helped organize the famous MARCH ON WASHINGTON!!

- By 1961 CORE had 50 chapters!! In ALL the major cities! Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau and his principles of Civil Disobedience were key philosophies.

- Started 30 FREEDOM SCHOOLS in the South and taught African-American history/

2. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

- Started in 1909 by the very famous author W.E.B. Dubois (pronounced Doo-Boyz) 1st African-American ever to get a PhD from Harvard.

- Was the MAIN organization behind Thurgood Marshall and the Brown vs. Bd. Of Ed. Decision (the de-segregation of schools)

- Created a Legal Defense Fund in 1940 to bring all kinds of Civil Rights cases to court1. Made it legal for African-Americans to serve in WWI under

Woodrow Wilson in 19172. Fought lynchings all across the country3. Helped organize the BUS BOYCOTT with Rosa Parks in 19554. And even after Brown, the NAACP got the Little Rock 9 students to

actually go to school (see later in the chapter)

**Every year the NAACP gives millions of dollars in college scholarships to thousands of African-American students all across the country

3. SNCC: The Student NON-VIOLENT Coordinating Committee- VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- FREEDOM SUMMER!!!!!!!!!- MARCH ON WASHINGTON!!!!!!!!!

4. THE S.C.L.C: THE SOUTHERN…CHRISTIAN..LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

- Started by MLK after the Rosa Parks Montgomery Bus Boycott.- They were also the ones responsible for organizing the 1963 MARCH ON

WASHINGTON- And then the march on SELMA when the dogs attacked protesters

BLACK POWER: THE RISE OF RADICAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACTIVISM: (1965-1968)

MALCOLM X

It wasn’t that Malcolm X was in FAVOR of violence, it was just

that he was ready to use it if NECESSARY!! He would prefer EQUALITY through peace but if was impossible he was ready to use any means necessary.

He also believed in having 2 separate Americas: a WHITE AMERICA and a BLACK AMERICA. And these 2 separate Americas should be achieved BY ….WHATEVER….MEANS….NECESSARY!!!

I would call him a BLACK NATIONALIST. It’s not that he HATED the white man, its just that he honestly didn’t think that MLK and his non-violent protests were gonna work. He believed in SEPARATION, NOT INTEGRATION! He wasn’t ANTI-WHITE. He was anti-EXPLOITATION!!!

He was also in favor of BLACK ECONOMY. Essentially he felt that the black community had to do it themselves. That they would never get assistance from the white man

- Own your own stores- Own your own banks- Also, Don’t do drugs----------Don’t drink----Don’t smoke----Don’t date

white women- Educate yourselves- Get a gun if you have to

The white man will nOt give it to u- We’re poor—theyre no---------Don’t go to the dRaft- The police are ur enemy---YOU MUST

VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THE BALLOT POR THE BULLET

The black nationalist and black Muslim MUST VOTE!! A ballot is like a bullet!!

“The political philosophy of black nationalism means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community; no more. The black man in the black community has to be re-educated into the science of politics so he will know what politics is supposed to bring him in return. Don't be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket”1

African-American voting stats 20162012: 66.6% of the African-American community voted2016: 59%Clinton got -88%Trump got-8%Black women-94% for ClintonBlack men- 13% for Trump 80% for Clinton

READ THE “BALLOT OR THE BULLET” speech at the end of the chapter and answer the questions (preguntas)

He only calmed down and saw the beauty in all people when he went on the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad (THE HAJJ). There he saw black Muslims living with white Muslims. Red Muslims living with blue Muslims. Young Muslims living with old Muslims. He realized that the black man and the white man CAN live together in peace. IF the American government cooperates.

1 Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet, www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/malcolm_x_ballot.html.

He stopped calling the white man “THE DEVIL” and in 1964 he started the Organization of Afro-American Unity and moved increasingly in the direction of socialism. Many in his day equated communism/socialism not with Stalin but with equality and utopia. ** He also wanted to bring HUMAN RIGHTS charges against America to the UN for segregation. Interesting theory.

Malcolm X was actually born Malcolm Little but he considered “Little” a slave name and took the last name “X” when he became a Muslim in prison. *Technically he was part of the Nation of Islam which had a huge following among the African-American community in the prison system.

Malcolm X grew up poor, in Omaha, Nebraska with 10 brothers and sisters.His father was killed by the KKK when they held his head on the tracks of an oncoming train!!! When his mother filed for insurance they told her that her husband “committed suicide”. Can u believe that?! She got nothing. Then she went crazy and all his brothers and sisters were sent to live with different family members.

Eventually Malcolm made his way to Harlem and began a life of crime. He took up gambling and petty theft and was eventually caught robbing a wealthy house.

In prison he chose to become a Muslim with the Nation of Islam for 2 reasons:1) He considered it the only religion on the planet which recognized

black people as equal to whites.

2) It supported his view that Africa was the birthplace of humanity and that blacks were an ancient and worthy race. He also argued that Jesus was NOT white. In the New Testament Book of Revelation it is written: "...and His feet were like unto burnt brass, His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow

(Remind me to show u the scene of X questioning a white Jesus from Malcolm X the movie- one of the top 20 movies EVER made!)

Famous Quote: “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!”

Best book on Malcolm X: “Autobiography of Malcolm X” with Alex Haley, the guy who wrote Roots

Best Movie: Malcolm X by Spike Lee starring the inimitable Denzel Washington

The Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)Do you know what the single biggest cause of war on the African continent is? Religion! Specifically between Christians and Muslims. Which is strange because BOTH Christianity and Islam were GIVEN to the African continent. That is, neither of them are native to Africa. Christianity was brought to the slaves in Africa through the slaveholders and Islam was brought through trade with the Sahara Desert “SALT 4 GOLD” deals. Oh, and slavery was a common thread throughout. Now they fight over which religion is ‘right’.

- Christians are 40% of Africa- Muslims are 45% of Africa

Mali: Islamist terrorists amputate anyone who is not living according to the “true” IslamNigeria: The Islamic terrorist group “Boko Haram” which means ‘Western Education is Poison” kidnapped 300 Nigerian girls and forced them into marrying terroristsCentral African Republic: Christians vs. MuslimsThe NATION OF ISLAM in America was started in the 1930s by a guy named Wallace. He argued that essentially Christianity was the white man's religion. That, in the United States, it was forced on African Americans during the slave experience.

(He argued that this was true for the slave populations of North America, South America and the Caribbean when they took on Christian beliefs because of the slaveholders. And even during slavery in the South, states like Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee had WAY MORE Churches that the Northern states, and yet slavery persisted.)

He argued that Islam was closer to African roots and identity. Members of the Nation of Islam read the Koran, worship Allah as their God, and accepted Mohammed as their chief prophet. This is intertwined with Black Power and the and Wallace’s followers became known as BLACK MUSLIMS .

In PRISON: The Nation of Islam attracted many followers in prisons because state prisons are sometimes filled with troubled and lost people who are looking for some kind of guidance. And in America they were treated like 2nd class citizens. They saw the United States as white and Christian, and yet hostile to blacks.

PLUS, the Nation of Islam preached adherence to a strict moral code; you had to pray 5 times a day (facing Mecca)- You could not eat pork- You couldn’t drink or smoke- No crime!!!- You had to marry other Muslims

After Wallace kind of ‘disappeared’, the new guy in charge was a dude named ELIJAH MUHAMMAD. He is the one who communicated with Malcolm X while he was in prison. When X got out of jail, he became Elijah Muhammad’s #1 follower. Some people think that it was Elijah who assassinated Malcolm X in Harlem in 18965 because he was getting WAY TOO powerful.

Integration was not a goal!!!!!!!! Rather, the Nation of Islam wanted blacks to set up their own schools, churches, and support networks.

This is in STARK CONTRAST to Martin Luther King jr. who argued that we need ONE AMERICA. Remember, Malcolm X did not change his views until he went on the holy Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and saw all Muslims working, working, living and praying together. Black Muslims, White Muslims, Brown Muslims, red Muslims, Yellow Muslims etc.

Which way do U think would be more effective: Unity or separation.

FUN FACT: MUHHAMAD ALIIn 1967 Muhammad Ali became the most famous member of the Nation of Islam. He changed his name from Cassius Clay to “Muhammad’ ‘Ali’ when he became a Muslim. Muhammad is the most common first name in the world with 150,000,000.

Remember when he protested the Vietnam War? Well, he got out of the Draft by using a religious exemption. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court because the Judges didn’t want to recognize the Nation of Islam as a legitimate religion. In the end they didn’t have to because they ruled on a technicality.

(Another great movie on HBO: Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight starring the inimitable Danny Glover as Thurgood Marshall…but I won’t show it. No time!)

BLACK POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DE FACTO SEGREGATIONJust like Malcolm X was a man of 2 sides, so too were the Black Panthers.

1. The part that wanted change NOW and was ready to potentially use violence and fight 4 it (BLACK POWER)

2. The part that wanted to help the community Free Breakfast for children Free health clinics for adults Sickle-cell anemia research centers for the disease found in the black community.

WAS THERE SEGREGATION ………………IN THE NORTH?

DE FACTO SEGREGATION: Segregation in the North that isn’t the law but is happening anyway. police brutality------------------unequal housing, ------------unequal schools, job discrimination,------------------ housing and rent discrimination,

and so forth… in the North!

CHECK THESE OUT::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::1. 1968: FAIR HOUSING ACT : Made it illegal to refuse to sell or rent to someone because of race. Unfortunately, this still goes on today. Signed by LBJ in ’68, the same year he sent 568,000 to Vietnam.2. 1973: JOB-DISCRIMINATION: The Supreme Court makes it easier to prove racial discrimination at work: 3. MY FAVORITE: 1967 Loving v Virginia: interracial marriage is made legal (I want to see this movie!. It stars Joel Edgerton, a great actor.)

NORTH RACE RIOTS 1. Buffalo, NY

2. Detroit3. Newark, NJ (15 minutes from my house in Staten Island)

4. Watts- Los Angeles (MOST FAMOUS)- $40,000,000 in property damage

- Took 4000 calif. National Guardsmen to stop

- 1 week of looting and rioting- 34 dead/1000 injured

THINKING QUESTION: Do U think the school’s in low income neighborhoods are the same as the schools in wealthier neighborhoods? Why or why not? Explain!

LOOK: a lot of people disagreed with MLK. They felt that his use of non-violence was whack! For some change wasn’t happening FAST

enough……………Why?

U see, the problem was that although technically segregation was made illegal, a gross inequality still existed in America’s cities. There were serious racial problems with

This type of segregation is INSIDOUS, meaning it’s below the surface and harder to see. This is known as DE-FACTO segregations. It’s not legal but……..

In fact, race relations in the United States, in the North , were so bad that these riots happened even B4 MLK’s 1968 assassination

** Notice they were ALL in the North, Not the South! People in the North were especially susceptible to this because they had no experience with regular segregation and were thus not under the impression that inequality was perfectly normal. This is known as DE FACTO segregation. DE FACTO means that it was not by law or mandate that the North was segregated, it just was!

THE BLACK PANTHERSBLACK PANTHERS’ 10-POINT PROGRAM-1967

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.

2. We want full employment for our people.3. We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black Community.4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent

American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.

6.7. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.8. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black

people.9. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city

prisons and jails.10. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury

of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.

11. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

**In the homework section u will be asked which of these requests are reasonable and which are unreasonable, if any.

Police brutality was also a MAJOR problem in the black community, North and South. One of the things that the Black Power movement wanted to do was STOP it

POLICE BRUTALITY STATS 2017Obama’s Justice Department demanded changes in:

- Chicago PD- Baltimore PD

- 700 cops shot in 2016

In October 2 guys named Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale found the Black Panther Party in Oakland, Calif. Because police brutality was a MAJOR problem in Oakland.

In fact, The Black Panthers used to be called the ‘Black Panthers for Self-Defense”. Why? Because they would send out armed members to follow cops around to make sure the cops weren’t beating up on people. This was from 1965-1968. Can you imagine how the Police, the FBI, and the Justice Department reacted when armed black men would follow cops around on traffic stops!?

Then, in 1966, the Panthers decided to march all the way to Sacramento, the capital of California, carrying guns! You see, in 1960’s California, like in a lot of other states, they had ‘open-carry’ laws. This means that as long as the gun is publically visible and not pointed at anyone, you could take guns almost anywhere (even Church).

In 2107: 23 states have ‘open carry’ laws and these are the states with the most“INTERESTING GUN LAWS”

• In Kentucky even if you were convicted of Domestic Violence u can own a gun!• In Wyoming even the mentally ill can have a gun.• In Kansas and Texas: You can carry guns on college campuses • In Texas you can even bring guns into college classrooms. Even the professors

can have a gun at any Public University in Texas!• In Vermont you can bring them into bars or cafes, churches and even…….polling

places!• In Ohio you have to “promise” not to drink if you have a gun in a bar!

On the other side of the ‘ GUN CONTROL’ argument, these are NOT the states that have the most problems with gun violence. NYC and Chicago have VERY strict gun laws and yet Chicago has had almost 800 homicides in 2016!!!!!!!!! Obviously gun control is the not the magic bullet.

BLACK PANTHERS WITH GUNS IN CALIFORNIAWell, guess what! By 1967 California (Ronald Reagan is Governor), gets rid of –open

carry laws.

1967-1968: THINGS GET HAIRY!- They got a reputation for violence. Why? They would chant….

"The Revolution has come, it's time to pick up the gun. Off the pigs!", "The Revolution has come, it's time to pick up the gun. Off the pigs!",

(fact: In 1992 Ice-T wrote a song called “Cop Killer” and it created MASSIVE 1st

Amendment controversy, with even Bill Clinton publicly denouncing it!)

- Huey Newton kills a cop! (This is EXACTLY what the Civil Rights Movement DOES NOT need!

- The FBI promises to get rid of “BLACK HATE GROUPS”.- 1968: MLK IS ASSASSINATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- 1968: A team of Panthers assassinate a cop in Oakland. (NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The MLK assassination RIOTS begin><<<<<<<<<<1. Washington D.C 5. Detroit 9. Trenton, NJ2. Chicago 6. NYC 10.Delaware3. Baltimore 7. Pittsburgh4. Louisville 8. Cincinnati5. Kansas City

This plays right into the hands of men like Richard Nixon or J. Edgar Hoover. They WANT u to think this way, to act this way.

J. EDGAR HOOVER AND THE FBIFBI’s J. Edgar Hoover (who used to dress as a woman, allegedly) calls the Black Panthers "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country”. He targets ALL Civil Rights groups, even MLK, which he basically equates with Communists, but he particularly hates the Black Panthers. The FBI wanted to destroy the Panthers because they saw them as a threat, and they would use whatever means were at their disposal (wiretaps, informants, spying, propagating false information etc.) Hoover also had a 65 page dossier in MLK. (The movie about him ‘J. Edgar’ stars Leonardo ‘TMNT’ Dicaprio.)

BY 1968 THINGS GET VERY BAD FOR THE PANTHERSBasically, they embrace their more militant side and the anti-black Americans get the excuse they need to equate the fight for Civil Rights with violence:

1. Huey is on trial for murdering a cop.2. 3 panthers get into a gun fight with LAPD at a gas station and get shot3. 1 member is going to jail for RAPE but he flees to CUBA instead, and then to Algeria

of all places.4. Another panther killed in a gun battle with LAPD5. The LAPD raid a house in Oakland and there are THOUSANDS of bullets fired.

This is NOT good. .

EVENTUALLY, after Huey is found Not Guilty, the Panthers realize that if they don’t change their ways, they will ALL be killed. They start to focus on humanitarian issues in the African-American community:

1. Free Breakfast for children2. Free health clinics for adults3. Sickle-cell anemia research centers for the disease found in the black community.

This created a MAJOR rift within the organization. There were many who felt that the panthers should remain militant, and use violence when necessary, but Huey Newton saw the future, and it was NOT covered in blood! There were now 2 PANTHERS, and 2 cats in a cage don’t get along!

The Panthers had to decide: are we a Revolutionary organization, or a Social-Services organization??? One of the Panthers even ran for mayor of Oakland, though he came in 2nd!. Eventually Huey Newton went crazy, started doing hard drugs, and died in a drug shoot out in 1989. The Black Panthers finally dissolved in 1982 but not before opening chapters in 2 dozen American cities.

We will watch “Black Panther: Vanguard of the Revolution”, a PBS documentary in class for this

**NOT FUN FACT: The SADDEST thing about the Black Panthers is that they gave birth to the Crips and the Bloods of LA. Both of these gangs are actually children of the same Civil Rights organization but they have both forgotten it. Now they just go fighting each other, perpetuating violence, murder and revenge. They can’t even tell you when or why the beef actually started. They are just children of the Black Panthers, who were supposed to work together for Civil Rights!

(There is a GREAT HBO Documentary on this but I’m afraid I don’t have it)Crips and Bloods: 44% of ALL US gang affiliation/1500 arrests per year

FUN FACT: The Panthers always equated men with women and were champions of Women’s Rights (feminism: Part III Civil Rights)

LOOKS LIKE……..ELIZABETH RAI??

LBJ:

If U remember correctly he wanted the Great Society and the War on Poverty. Instead he escalated the Vietnam War. Some say he simply inherited JFK’s advisors but it was LBJ who instituted the Draft and sent 568,000 boys to die.

With Civil Rights, however, he was a hero!! JFK started the Civil Rights Act of 1963 but it was LBJ who signed it and pushed it through Congress, making it the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He knew that in doing so he would lose the votes of everyone in the South from now on. They used to be Democrats. Now they would be Republicans because of segregation and Civil Rights. And these states have voted for a republican in EVERY Presidential election since: Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia.

LBJ famously said” “There goes the South!” He was right. It’s unfortunate we still have a divided country. They would 4ever be known as “Dixiecrats”!

TACTICS OF CIVIL RIGHTS: I LOVE SKOOL…..I HATE SKOOL

Ah, but how many of you take free school FOR GRANTED??????

1) Brown vs. Board of ED: The BIG ONE….1955 8 yr. old Linda Brown and 20 other children sued the School Board in Topeka, Kansas because she was forced to go to the “black school” even though it was twice as far away as her “white school”. This inequality violated the “separate but equal” clause upheld in Plessy vs Ferguson.

Thurgood Marshal was her lawyer and he then became the first black Supreme Court Justice.

Well, in 1954 Thurgood Marshall successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court that “separate” AUTOMOATICALLY mean “unequal”. That it was IMPOSSIBLE to legally separate and equal AT THE SAME TIME.

THURGOOD MARSHALL: became the 1stblack Supreme Court Justice (LBJ)

Well, the United States immediately ordered ALL public schools (Elementary, Middle, High Schools AND State Universities) to be integrated immediately!

Do u think that ended the matter? NO!!!Things did not go smoothly. Aside from the protests from parents and students, and all the spitting, screaming and name calling that black students had to endure, there were governmental obstacles yet to overcome. In particle, there was a Governor of Arkansas named George Wallace, who REFUSED TO LET THE BLACK KIDS IN and who forced John F. Kennedy to send in the National Guard! Little Rock, Arkansas (1957): THE SOUTH WILL NOT LISTEN!!!!After Brown vs. Bd. of Ed George Wallace refused to let 9 black High School students into the Little Rock High School. JFK was forced to send the Federal Marshalls and National Guard in just so these VERY BRAVE 9 students could go to school.

*The girl spitting and the girl getting spat on later became BFF’s.

(Remind me to show u the Little Rock scene from either ‘Forrest Gump’ or ‘REMEMBER THE TITANS’)

2)1963 MLK March on Washington: Self explanatory

- MLK gave his famous speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

- 100,000 participants 

GETTING RID OF DISCRIMINATION (1955-1980 TIMELINE)Y’All already know:4. Civil Rights Act (1964): Already covered5. Voting Rights Act (1965): Signed by LBJ (NO MORE POLL TAXES, LITERACY TESTS etc.)6. 1956: Supreme Court rules buses are integrated! No more ‘back of the bus!’

1965-1980Yet sometimes discrimination is insidious. That means it’s below the surface and harder to see, but very harmful nonetheless. A few examples of this type of discrimination AFTER 1965 were:

A) Housing discriminationB) Job DiscriminationC) Interracial Marriage

7. 1968: FAIR HOUSING ACT : Made it illegal to refuse to sell or rent to someone because of race. Unfortunately, this still goes on today. Signed by LBJ in ’68, the same year he sent 568,000 to Vietnam.

Even in 2017-Studies have shown that mortgage rates for minorities are higher for the same houses as whites. Also, in 2008 banks were cited for taking advantage of and using predatory practices against minorities all across America, eventually leading up to the 2008 housing collapse and Great Recession. In fact, blind case studies sent out fake rental applications to find out who gets better treatment. The same rental applications with exotic names get turned down 50% of the time. Or even worse, real-estate agents take people to different neighborhoods based on their

race to show them separate houses (This is HIGHLY illegal). Still, as of 1968, u can take ‘em to court. (But now ben Carson is the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development so I’m sure he’ll take care of all that)In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal even in 2017 these are America’s most SEGREGATED cities 1. Washington D.C.2. Atlanta3. Baton Rouge, LA.4. Philly5. New Orleans6. Birmingham7. Baltimore8. St. Louis9. Chicago10. Detroit

Much of this is the fault of mortgage companies, banks and real estate companies that have VIOLATED the 1968 FAIR HOUSING ACT!

8. 1973: JOB-DISCRIMINATION: The Supreme Court makes it easier to prove racial discrimination at work:

So a study done in 2016 found the following: If you submit 2 resumes; same colleges, same G.P.A’s, and same extracurricular activities, the resumes with minority names get called in for interviews…..50% less of the time!

This is because racism is insidious, and NOT dependent upon words. As of 1973, job discrimination based on race is illegal. 4 things must be true:

Here’s what u need to prove:   (1) the plaintiff is a member of a racially protected group; (2) the plaintiff applied and was qualified for the position sought; (3) the employer rejected the plaintiff for the job; and (4) the employer continued to seek applicants with similar qualifications after the rejection. 

*In 2013 the Huffington Post reported that unemployment for African-American college graduates was 50% higher than for Caucasian college graduates. Throw in gender and the numbers get even worse.

This is true even when the qualifications of the 2 candidates is the same.

9. MY FAVORITE: 1967 Loving v Virginia: interracial marriage is made legal (I want to see this movie!. It stars Joel Edgerton, a great actor.)

Before 1967, however,- In the 1950’s it was a felony in 16 states (the South I presume)- Minimum 1 year in prison…Max 5 years in prison- The 1st anti-miscegenation laws go back to 1691 (Thomas Jefferson

had children w/ his slaves!) But he probably couldn’t marry the women.

- Today, in 8 different states, 20% of ALL new marriages are interracial.

- I can only marry a Capricorn!

So, after 1964 segregation was not LEGAL anymore, but it was still HAPPENING everywhere it counts (jobs, housing..)

ASSIGNMENTS

Here is what u need to know for CIVIL RIGHTS ESSAY: PAPER #3:

Question #1: the rise of radical African American activism (1965–1968)- Malcolm X and Black Power- Nation of Islam and Black Panthers

Question #2: African Americans and the civil rights movement: origins, tactics, organizations and success (1955-1980)A) ending of segregation in the south (1955–1980)B) the US Supreme Court and legal challenges to segregation in educationC) civil rights movements in the Americas Lyndon B Johnson

Question #3: Role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights movement (1955-1980)

1. THINKING QUESTION: The Black Panther 10-Point Plan is very interesting. Do you see any components that seem reasonable to you? Are there any that seem un-reasonable?

2. THINKING QUESTION: Do U think the school’s in low income neighborhoods are the same as the schools in wealthier neighborhoods? Why or why not? Explain!

3. Explain the following statement: Still, the violence that Black Power preached was not just a free-for-all anarchy. It was in theory a reaction, defensive in nature, but perhaps an ill-advised one!

4. EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING TERMS:

Before 1965Jim Crow Laws:Plessy vs FergusonBrown vs. Bod of EdLittle Rock 9Freedom Summer Freedom Riders1964 Civil Rights ActLBJ’s participation

1965-19801965 Voting Rights Act1968 Fair Housing Act 1973: Employment Discrimination Act1967: Loving v Virginia

5. MLK- NAACP Henry David Thoreau- SLCC Civil Disobedience- CORE Mahatma Gandhi

6. MALCOLM X- Nation of Islam- Black Power- Black Panthers

7. How was MLK a genius when it came to the media? 8. How did Mecca CHANGE X?

ASSIGNMENT #2: Put each of the definitions above in columns according to the IB QUESTIONS at the top of the page. IF you get this IB question on Paper #3 (and I think u will), that’s the Study Guide.

By the way………….. One of the MAIN things that King argued was that how could we possible say we are fighting a war for freedom in Vietnam, when we treat 15% of our population this way. In addition, while we spend hundreds of billions of dollars in Vietnam, poverty runs rampant here at home. This gave him MASSIVE credibility. Don’t 4get the Civil Rights struggle of 1965-1968 was smack-in-the-middle of Vietnam. People were pissed, and they had a right to be!

This is also one of the reasons why the Black Power movement became friends with Hispanics, feminists, and even Appalachian hillbilly boys who were poor as hell too. Remember, suffering unites!

And now we move on to…….FEMINISM

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