Jim Crow Laws and Racial Segregation

CRACKS IN THE SYSTEM

The Jim Crow laws were the initial starting point that would later cause chain reaction for the creation of the NAACP. The Jim Crow laws began after slavery became abolished, leaving an unsatisfactory outcome for white supremacists after the Civil War. The loss created angry white elites to start terrorist groups, like the KKK, which aimed to make sure reforms could not be possible. Although slaves were considered free, the Jim Crow laws were used to maneuver over the newly appointed Amendments of the Constitution. This allowed the start of racial segregation and even more mistreatment towards all African men and women. By 1909, the NAACP was created for the purpose of fighting against segregation in both the North and South. Activists such as A. Phillip Randolph threatened the country with a march against racism. This did not fully mitigate until about World War II, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order that would ban racial discrimination during times of war.

FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM

An adolescent named Emmett Till was murdered and tortured by white supremacists that brought massive attention. This was caused by a young Emmett unaccustomed to the Jim Crow laws who was killed. This started a movement that sought to end an unjust system due to the accused prevailing. The second event described was the Montgomery bus boycott occurred with the succession of Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat to a white passenger. This led to her arrest and started the Women’s Political Council that would begin the boycotting of all buses for African-Americans. The third even was the beginning of Little Rock Central High School where black students tried to end segregation in the school. White crowds would not allow any black students admission which led President Dwight Eisenhower to issue an executive order helping black students attend to class. Governer Orval Faubus and many other white supremacists were not content with the situation and decided to close the year for all Little Rock schools.

CLASHES AND REFORMS

Decision Dilemma was a win-win situation in which at lunch sit-ins, white supremacists had to ignore activists which made the Jim Crow laws to be violated. The other option was to actively move them out which would draw media attention that showcased acts of aggression towards protesters. The SNCC model was mutual trust with democracy in the group’s tasks. An organizer, Ella Baker, brought upon ideas of a decentralized structure and consensus decision-making. This made the groups decisions to be unanimously agreed upon which would force activists to reevaluate their ways to address concerns. The liberals wanted the SNCC to focus on voting rights instead of direct action. This would seal the deal more in line with political properties, rather than social, of the civil rights.

MOVEMENTS BEGET MOVEMENTS

The feminist model refers to the Women’s Liberation movement. Second wave feminism was the cause that allowed the Women’s Movement by groups like the SDS, SNCC and the Black Panthers. Mainstream politics are essentially what is possible to bring about within the current system. Radical politics usually suggest a need for ""radical"" or extreme changes to be implemented. When speaking of right or left radical politics, rightwing radical politics can often be brought in by election or coup, and then they dismantle the system and put in place a more repressive one. With leftwing radical politics, revolution is usually in order.

REPRESSION

COINTELPRO was a program created by Red Squads of police and FBI to protect interests from someone who might be a threat within groups. They used many different techniques such as surveillance and harassments ranging from different punishments. The COINTELPRO group sought to end peace activists, feminists, and many others. One of the ones that stuck out to me the most was the killings, by local police, of Black Panthers and many others who were jailed. The police tried to act as victims, even though they were the ones who terrorized two people’s apartments and later killed them. The second one that came to mind was the wrongful imprisonment of the murder of a teacher. Ji Jaga had a target locked on him due to FBI counterintelligence with goals of getting rid of him. The last one that I thought was terrible was the killing of George Jackson. He had letters published after his death and a month later, inmates demanded minimum wage for prison labor and took prison staff members for hostage. After this all went down, police came in killing twenty-nine people, including some of the prison staff members. Media accounts claimed that the inmates slit their throats, but it was actually the police who shot and killed them.

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