What is freedom? A mother's worry for her son to walk in the neighborhood with a hoodie on?

Dr. Jill Watts: History 335 The African American Struggle for Civil Rights and Equality Final Paper By, Stephanie Williams

What is freedom?

A mother’s worry for her son to walk in the neighborhood with a hoodie on?

Introduction Many Americans perceive the Civil Rights Movement as victorious in creating a consistent path of improvement in terms of equal rights for African Americans. Though there has been progress towards equality in many areas among society, there is still an uphill battle towards equal rights for African Americans. We live in a nation that has been infected with racism and hate since the beginning of the Spanish and European conquests in the Americas.

Still struggling with racial inequality, young black men and women have been continuously profiled, treated unconstitutionally, and criminalized by law enforcement. Over the last decade we have witnessed several African American youth become victims of police brutality, gun violence, and wrongfully incarcerated taking away any opportunity from their lives. In class a few weeks ago I remember Annette mentioning that she worries about her fourteen year old son walking around wearing a hooded sweatshirt because he is tall for his age and he is a young black man liable to be profiled by law enforcement. With this said, there are many black moms living in constant fear of losing their children to police gunfire. In the book The Unsteady March, Philip A. Klinkner and Roger M. Smith discuss that our nation has made progress since the Civil Rights Movement, but it is a continued battle as if we are taking two steps forward and one step backward. After reviewing the timeline between 1954 till up until now of progress towards racial social justice in America, I would argue that our nation still has a long way to go to achieve total equality for African Americans.

Brown v. Board of Education Integration or Separate But Equal The education system in much of the United States fought the federal laws to integrate school in the 1950’s. During the Topeka, Kansas Brown v. Board case in 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren declared it unconstitutional to have de jure segregation within the education system. Though this law was declared, this did not mean that schools became instantly integrated and that everyone was willing to follow the laws. In fact, many black students who were attempting to integrate into previous all white school faced retaliatory attacks from whites. In class lecture on November 14, we discussed integration issues in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1957 eight African American students attempting to integrate in an all white school were stopped by whites filling the streets to protest. The federal government attempted to step in and enforce school integration in Little Rock. The white people of Little Rock did not want to integrate so badly, that they completely shut down the public education system and privately homeschool their kids from 1958-1959.

Eventually school systems became integrated. With schools being integrated, this still does not mean that all children receive equal education within the United States. As neighborhoods have continued to be mainly segregated in many areas around the United States, elementary schools near the African American communities are often older school without as much up to date modern technology. →

Brown v. Board of Education Integration or Separate But Equal → Klinkner and Smith discuss that many civil rights activists and leaders today, even organizations such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) debate whether it is worth the time to advocate for integrated education “or accept the wisdom of striving for “separate but equal” institutions.”(1) Furthermore, according to Klinkner and Smith “a recent Harvard study by Gary Orfield and others confirm that, abetted by the altered judicial rulings, school segregation has risen more rapidly during the last five years than at any time since Brown v. Board of Education was decided.” (2) 1.

2.

Philip, A. Klinkner and Rogers M. Smith, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline or Racial Equality in America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999, 343.

Philip, A. Klinkner and Rogers M. Smith, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline or Racial Equality in America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999, 343.

The Story of Emmett Till: A Mother’s Worst Fear…

Emmett Till was a twelve year old boy from Chicago, Illinois. In 1955 just a year after the Brown v. Board of Education case, Till went to visit his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Sumner, Mississippi. While on his visit Emmett was showing a class photo to his cousin and telling him about a white girl in his class who was his girlfriend. Interracial relations were not common nor were not permitted by many whites in the south, and Till was not used to southern racial mentalities as he grew up in the north. Not believing his story about having a white girlfriend, Till’s cousin dared him to say something or whistle at a white lady in the supermarket. →

The Story of Emmett Till: A Mother’s Worst Fear… → To this day, the story remains unclear as to whether Till actually said something to her, what he said, or if he whistled. The white lady told her boyfriend, and he and his friend went over to Till’s uncle’s house to teach him a lesson. The two white men took Till out by the Tallahatchie River then severely beat and shot him dumping his body in the river.

During this time it was not often heard of to have a black man in the south speak up against white men who have committed brutal crimes. Till’s uncle had the courage to identify the men who murdered his nephew in court, although they were ultimately acquitted by an all white jury.

Filled with rage and sadness for what had happened to her son, Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Bradley chose to have her son’s visitation be held as an open casket. Till’s body was so badly decomposed from the beatings and being in the water, that he was unrecognizable. The only way they were able to positively identify his body was by a special ring that he wore. Mamie said that she wanted to leave Till’s casket open “for all the world to see” what they did to her son. On her son's casket, she hung a photo of Till taken during Christmas time the year before. People at the visitation could see Till’s sweet child face in the photo and the horrifying display of what had become of this beautiful child. Black children have been victims of white violence in American for way too long. As I mentioned in the introduction to this paper African American mother’s continue to worry about their children being targeted by racial hate and violence not only among whites, but among law enforcement who are supposed to be in place to protect all.

Civil Rights Movement Leaders, Organizations, & Forms of Protest Formed out of a struggle for human rights against lynching of African Americans in the south, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was formed by W.E.B. DuBois in 1909 to seek human rights and social justice for black citizens in the United States. The NAACP remained a solid foundation during the Civil Rights Movement while many black leaders and activists helped pave the way for major protests to support voting rights, equal education, equal job opportunities, and equality among all ranks of society for African Americans. John Lewis and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped form and run the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) for organized social protests such as the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.

During the first march attempt in Selma, police raided the march brutally beating, injuring, and arresting many of the protesters. John Lewis himself was beaten by the police so badly that he was hospitalized during this time. Just about every African American who participated in peaceful protests during this time period, whether it be marching, sit-ins, etc. experienced brutality from police and arrests. At one point, in a march organized for equal education opportunities several leaders of the SNCC voted to have children at the front line of the march.

Though many leaders were opposed to this, such as John Lewis who was questioning the motives of the SNCC as a nonviolent committee turning more radicalized to get the message across. Some thought that the police would back off if children were involved in the march, however police continued to raid the protest and arrest protesters including children. →

Civil Rights Movement Leaders, Organizations, & Forms of Protest → There was really no limit to who the police would harm during peaceful protests, basically if you were black and protesting for any social justice cause you became a target of police brutality.

Though there were many black activists and leaders who promoted peaceful protests and sought immediate integration, other activists and leaders saw that peaceful protests did not get very far fast enough and they sought change in other ways such as arming the African American population to protect themselves against police brutality. Malcolm X was a strong activist leader who promoted a more active stance towards protests. He preached change through religious values as Malcolm became a Muslim and he hoped to promote new forms of thinking among many African American citizens who continued to be targeted by racism and white hate. The Black Panther Party Movement was an organization formed in Oakland, California and spread across the nation empowering black communities to arm themselves for protection against the police. Black people across the nation continued to be victimized by police brutality, those who joined the Black Panther Party Movement became empowered to protect themselves as they had never been before. Both Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated during the 1960’s. John Lewis today remains a strong activist towards civil rights for people of color, and he is a congressman for the state of Georgia a southern state which continues to battle overt racism.

Today: Labeling, Profiling, Justice System The Story of Oscar Grant: A Mother’s Worst Fear…

In Oakland, California where there has been a history of racial profiling within law enforcement and the birth town of the Black Panther Party Movement, young men of color continue to be labeled, profiled, and targeted by law enforcement. Just eight years ago in 2009 on New Year’s Day, a young 22 year old black man, Oscar Grant was riding on the subway with several of his friends after celebrating New Year’s Eve. During this time a few local law enforcement agents profiled Oscar and several of his friends pulling them off of the subway and handcuffing them on the sidewalk. In a plea of his defense, Oscar attempted to converse with one of the officers telling him that they had done nothing wrong and they had the wrong people.

The officer became irate with Oscar (who was in handcuffs unable to defend himself) and ultimately fatally shot Oscar. Young men of color continue to be targets of police brutality and victims of the Justice system across the nation. While some may naively think that the Civil Rights Movement was victorious in leading our country on a path towards improving equal rights for African American citizens, many black citizens are living in fear of becoming the next target or victim of police brutality. Once a life is taken, it can never be given back. After his death, Oscar Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson became an activist and continues to use her voice against gun violence and police brutality.

Today: Labeling, Profiling, Justice System The Story of Oscar Grant: A Mother’s Worst Fear…

Today: Labeling, Profiling, Justice System The Story of Kalief Browder: A Mother’s Worst Fear…

In 2010, just one year after Oscar Grant’s death all the way on the other side of the country in the Bronx, New York a 16 year old young man, Kalief Browder was charged of theft.

Browder was accused of stealing a backpack from a Mexican-American man who identified him and a friend as the suspects. However, there was no evidence that Browder and his friend were the suspects who stole the backpack. Browder was put in jail that night, and his trial continued to be put off claiming that they were waiting for the witness (the man who had been robbed) to come to the testimony. In the meantime, the man who had his backpack stolen moved back to Mexico and was nowhere to be found. The court justice continued to put off Browder’s case for years. While in jail, Browder was accused of instigating fights and he was placed in solitary confinement for over 300 days in a row. In a documentary series about his story, Browder details the psychological damage he attained while in prison, including hearing voices which he did not experience before he was convicted. This boy had his life taken away from him as a teenager, and he was now faced with mental illness. Kalief’s mother continued to fight for her son, and others including famous people such as Jay-Z and Rosie O'Donnell reached out to help Browder when they heard his story. The mental damage Browder faced was so severe that he ultimately took his own life in 2015. →

Today: Labeling, Profiling, Justice System The Story of Kalief Browder: A Mother’s Worst Fear… → This is what our justice system has become. A continued revolving door of falsely accusing and charging young men of color with crimes, throwing them in prison, labeling them as criminal, and taking away any opportunity from their lives. According to a current report on the NAACP website, “nationwide, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court.” (3) 3. NAACP, “Racial Disparities in Incarceration,” Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, National Association for Advancement of Colored People, (2117), http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/ .

Conclusion Given the option to choose three images, texts, or photos for this discussion, I chose to focus on mothers who have lost their sons because of the color of their skin. As I mentioned, in class Annette discussed the fear she has of her fourteen year old son walking around in public wearing a hooded sweatshirt or being labelled/profiled by law enforcement. So many mother’s live with this fear every day, in a nation where we are supposed to be protected by our local law enforcement. In a nation where we are all proclaimed to be equal and have freedom. There are many mother’s in the United States who have already had to face the fear of losing their children to police gunfire, brutality, and/or the criminal justice system in the United States. While our nation has made strides since the Civil Rights Movement with inclusion of African Americans within the political atmosphere including having President Barack Obama and Civil Rights activists such as John Lewis as congressman, along with education, job force, economic, and housing improvements, there are still a large amount of black people in America who are denied many of these. There is still racial profiling, labeling, and unjust treatment of African Americans across the nation and public discourses are presented to the masses to cover up and deny these issues. Organizations such as the Black Lives Matter Movement remain in place to advocate for human rights and social justice for black citizens continuing to fight for justice in the United States. We still have a long way to go to attain racial justice within the United States, but if we stand together with organizations such as the Black Lives Matter Movement we have a greater chance at achieving the goal sooner than later.

Bibliography 1.

Klinkner, Philip A. and Rogers M. Smith. The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999,

2.

Watts, Jill. “Civil Rights > Campaigns.” History 335 class lecture, Cal State University San Marcos, November 14, 2017.

3.

NAACP, “Racial Disparities in Incarceration,” Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, National Association for Advancement of Colored People, (2117), http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/ .