URBAN VIBEs DEC 2015 | Page 34

Who in the world is civil? lMariVl The Civil Rights Movement was originally founded on the effort to establish the civil rights of the black people of America. Meaning that blacks were to get equal treatment and benefits as their Caucasian counterparts, i.e., business, familial, social, economic, political, and etc. With all the marches, written speeches, and picket signs, what has this “movement” really accomplished? The fights and degradations of our forefathers so many years ago are being swept away as a mere display of showmanship to publicize the violent treatment African Americans were receiving in previous unrecorded encounters. We have spokespersons that go up to podiums just to spew out eloquent politically correct words not to offend our oppressors. They must keep up the facade of appearing to be sympathetic to the daily treatment of our people while shaking hands and appearing to Galas in their three-piece suits that cost thousands of dollars to “smooth out” the contingencies of how the white supremacist power structure can maintain power while throwing a few crumbs to “black-owned” charities as to say “We Care”. There were 4 characteristics that were highlighted during the PostReconstruction period, which were: 1. Racial segregation. By law, public facilities and government services such as education were divided into separate "white" and "colored" domains.[8] Characteristically, those for colored were underfunded and of inferior quality. 2. Disenfranchisement. When white Democrats regained power, they passed laws that made voter registration more restrictive, essentially forcing black voters off the voting rolls. The number of African-American voters dropped dramatically, and they no longer were able to elect representatives. From 1890 to 1908, Southern states of the former Confederacy created constitutions with provisions that disfranchised tens of thousands of African Americans and U.S. states such as Alabama disfranchised poor whites as well. Now the marches and meetings were “supposedly” organizing various socio-political groups to lobby and litigate against the White Supremacist power structure to plead on behalf of the broken and forgotten African Americans to allow them to take part of the proverbial American pie so they are able to partake in the nation they helped build. By seeing all of the characteristics listed in the above paragraph, you must ask yourself…Have all the efforts of the Civil Rights movement make a dent in the power structure that our forefathers fought so hard to break? We still have predominantly “minority” neighborhoods within major cities all across America. A lot of our Latino and African American brothers and sisters are still being wrongfully imprisoned and when “let out’ still cannot obtain a job or go to the polls to vote on a candidate that meets the needs of the individual due to a felony record thanks to the American Judiciary system. And let’s not mention the rampart unlawful violence that still encroaches our brown and black brothers and sisters that is being televised and recorded by the American public to expose the injustice while our judiciary system terminates the cases on “unsubstantial evidence”. 3. Exploitation. Increased economic oppression of blacks, Latinos, and Asians, denial of economic opportunities, and widespread employment discrimination. 4. Violence. Individual, police, paramilitary, organizational, and mob racial violence against blacks (and Latinos in the Southwest and Asians in California). 34