The debate on whether protests should be peaceful or violent was also a reason for fragmentation of the civil rights movement after 1966. After the late 1950’s King and the SCLC proved the effectiveness of peaceful protests. King said that he was committed to these methods due to his ties with Christianity. Radicals became critical as they believed that black citizens should use any means to fight for their rights. SNCC emphasized their commitment to self defence after the shooting of James Meredith as they believed the shooting underlined the need for black people
Such a strong proclamation cost King his life but we still recognise his actions today as a main factor for the equality of African-Americans, and many other races. This shows that King prioritised the wealthfare of his family and loved ones over himself to achieve equality for them all. Similarly in Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, the character John Proctor casts aside ‘[his] good name’ in order to save the community of Salem from the injustice of the witch trials. Proctor believed that the group of girls who were making the accusations were all lieing in order to divert the attention from themselves to everyone else. The only way for Proctor to stop the ‘crazy little children’ from ‘jangling the keys to the kingdom’ and show how the law has been corrupted by Danforth was to sacrifice himself.
Through out the history of African American people struggle for freedom, the struggle took many forms of riots, rebels by leaders who differed in methods but had the same aims. The nonviolent form took the struggle into a new era of struggle techniques. The nonviolent approach which shaped the struggle in 1950's and 1960's led the blacks to get their civil rights. The approach was orchestrated by Martin Luther King Jr., mostly in Alabama and Georgia. King's nonviolent dogma was the solution for the blacks' desire for freedom, but was opposed to other leaders' doctrines of violent and militant acts.
Equiano knew that slavery was wrong and seeing families being torn apart upset and strengthened him to believe in a future of freedom. Douglass too saw fellow slaves suffer to gratify the white mans selfish ways. But this did not discourage him from wanting freedom. Douglass found ways to get what he needed to become free. Both men fought to get what they wanted and earned their freedom.
Malcolm X’s despair about life was reflected in his angry, pessimistic belief that equality is impossible because whites have no moral conscience King basically adopted on an integrated philosophy, whereby he felt that blacks and whites should be united and live together in peace. Malcolm X, however, promoted nationalist and separatist doctrines. For most of his life, he believed that only through revolution and force could blacks attain their rightful place in society. Both X and King spread their message through powerful, hard-hitting speeches. Nevertheless, their intentions were delivered in different styles and purposes.
Huckleberry Finn reflects a portrait of America through the continued struggle for equality. Throughout the book the struggle for Huck to be equivalent to the other characters is seen but the more prominent concept of the struggle for equality is shown with Jim and the African American race. The portrait of America that is shown in this book is the commonly seen idea of a large group of people frowning upon a minority group yet; the minority group is doing what they can to benefit society as a whole. Claire Stocks says, “…it is possible to see Jim as a stereotype of the gullible slave, who easily and repeatedly falls for Huck’s tricks. And yet it is also clear that Jim uses each trick to his own advantage, to raise his status among the slaves, or to challenge Huck’s assumptions about his racial superiority.” Here Claire is saying that many people undermine the ability of people of other races and they don’t realize what they are capable of.
Me: Mr. Atticus, how did you stand up to the pressure of defending a black man when the town was against that action? Atticus: I stood up for what I believed in and yes it was intimidating but this town has to understand that we are all human beings. Men are created equal, black people do the exact same things as we do but we choose to find the littlest indifferences and judge them. What if it was the other way around and we white people were treated to same way as we treat black people? We need to change our way of thinking and how we presume others.
Many citizens mimic Wallace’s rhetorical tactics by appealing to individual and state freedom from the federal government, as well as his calls to religious appeals and the freedom blessed upon the great South by God himself. With the rise of the Cold War, the United States was placed in the middle of a global communist war, and any rhetoric that would paint the American people and government as a dark shadow of inequality would only counteract the efforts to disenfranchise communism around the world. The majority of the rhetoric, especially in the media, presented against the civil rights movement was carefully chosen to avoid being construed as directly racist. The media also helped persuade and guide the rhetoric that constituents, especially in the white south, used to engage with their state leaders, urging for a strong stance against the civil rights legislation. With the help and encouragement of Governor Wallace in August of 1963, the people of the South had the conviction and speech to voice their opposition without violating the preservation of the American image.
In Obama’s speech he says that blacks still hold a resentment towards the white man. His speech, however, contradicts itself because he supports ending discrimination and the racial divide, but understand why his Reverend has resentment toward white people based on previous actions by our ancestors. He ground his speech on actions that he saw in his times, and uses historical facts to help people understand his point of view and urges our nation to change their behaviors. Obama explains that America is a diverse nation, and that people discriminate based on: religion, race and education. Some contemporary documents and literary works that have issues such as colorblindness, racism and white resentment include: Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial
It plays a major role in shaping our society as well as us as individuals. The worst aspects of human nature usually flourish during conflict. However, sometimes the aftermath of conflict can also lead to these aspects. The key factors to explore the aspects of human nature in relation to conflict are focused on different consequences of social conflict encountered. They include, the change within oneself discovered during conflict due to inner turmoil and personal vengeance, the possession of power which leads to take advantage of people’s vulnerability and the adversities faced by individuals due to an immense sense of fear in the society as an aftermath of conflict.