the relationship between ‘cold war civil rights,’ and human rights discourse.
Write an essay that explains the relationship between ‘cold war civil rights,’ and human rights discourse.
After World War II, a lot of changes took place, which, in a way, placed the civil rights of African Americans in a global context. Due to the aftermath of World War II, a foundation was laid for the cold war, the U.S. and the Soviet Union countries began competing for the influence over Europe, Africa, and Asia. For that reason, the developing countries witnessed as the superpowers competed for the hearts of the non-white people throughout the cold war period. The United States was pretending to be the best at providing freedom and democracy among its citizens, with the adverse treatment of the African Americans in America, especially in the south side, this threatened to tarnish the reputation on the global stage. During the first two, civil rights protecting their status was a significant concern.
Presidents John F Kennedy, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D Eisenhower other international press. All the presidents had a common similarity in viewing the federal government and also that the nation’s capital had a significant significance in regards to the civil rights initiatives. However, all the presidents had different opinions concerning the response to civil rights for African Americans? Harry S Truman, however, was the most supportive of the answer to the civil rights for the African Americans. Dwight was reluctant to take the more influential position in favor of civil rights; this is because he thought even with the things going on, the country was not ready for segregation. John F Kennedy was more concerned about the reputation of the Democratic Party in the south than the black freedom struggle. It was not until media attention and the violence gained by Martin Luther King’s march on Birmingham. Also, the fear of the social upheaval with the rise of African American activists such as Malcolm X, that John F Kennedy was compelled to the national civil rights bill. Regardless of their personal opinions, the three presidents came together and utilized the civil rights to their gain at home and also to combat the Soviet propaganda war abroad.
At an initial glance, President Truman does not strike one as an advocate for civil rights reform; this is because being a southerner people assumed he was a racist. Truman realized that social equality did not exist, and this was his responsibility to mend that and the balance of opportunity to all people. He was focused on helping regain the freedom of the black in the United States. This empathy towards the African Americans freedom resulted in the generation of the civil rights commission. This commission was meant to secure civil rights.
Using examples from lecture and the Sylvia Wynter article, N.H.I. An Open Letter To My Colleagues, explain the role red baiting played within the Civil Rights Congress’ 1951 report We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against The Negro People and attempt to force the recently formed United Nations to recognize lynching and systemic racial discrimination against Black U.S. citizens as genocide.
Produced by William Patterson and the civil rights congress stated that under laws by the United Nations, the United States, due to their failure to pass its constitution should be held accountable for the genocidal acts towards African Americans in the states. Moreover, Patterson’s compared the hideous actions against the African Americans with those of Hitler towards the Jews. There was increase rates of killings in the black ghettos in the American cities, and the southern cotton plantations. Also, the working condition of the African Americans were deplorable in that there was increased deaths, diseases, and even poverty. Due to the situation going from bad to worse, Patterson declared that engaging in these injustices was considered a violation of the United Nations Convention on the “prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.”
We charge Genocide recorded approximately 152 killings and around 344 violent cases against African Americans, among other human rights abuses. All these crimes were committed in the United States against their citizens between 1945 and 1951. This is only a small percentage as many crimes against the blacks were unrecorded. All this evidence had even collected from the black people rests such as the black Dispatch and the Pittsburgh courier and also from reports of other institutions, state, and federal agencies. In the petition, it was stated that a large number of black people die each year due to lack of proper health care, jobs, and quality education, the same as the whites. They concluded due to the lives of the African Americans being below the average standard; their life expectancy had reduced by approximately eight years.
In 1951 William Patterson flew to Paris to deliver the petition to the members of the United Nations committee of human rights; however, this petition was publicly turned down in the United States and also denounced by other civil rights groups. Immediately after he arrived in the United States, his passport was banned in that he could not travel as he wished abroad. As Patterson was a communist and so are most of the people who signed the petition; therefore, this considered a dangerous document.
In the United States, the attention of people was diverted to the drive against communism in the country. This movement was thoroughly popularized in that it was even adopted by other movements that were seeking change in the country, such as the Negro rights organization. Little did they know they were wasting their energies in red-baiting; therefore, they ended up losing the sight for their original aims for social change. Redbaiting hinders any social reforms. This is because redbaiting introduces the aspect of communism, which people fear a lot. After all, it’s represented as the opposite of all Americans virtues.
Due to the systematic factor, there was a new category of the new poor, on the other hand, the working-class people who were meant to lead in the fight for social change for the African Americans. They no longer had enough clout and support to bring many changes, including the increased lack of work and also the civil rights. Consumption replaced the production as the main channel of capital accumulation. At least with the production phase, the jobless poor had jobs; however, with the use, the labor was more than the demand, which meant low wages. Such issues diverted the attention of the African Americans to other matters, which were more important than securing the civil rights.
Include attention to the geopolitics of the cold war and U.S. imperialism, as discussed within course readings by Malcolm X and Patrice Lumumba.
During the last years of his life, Malcolm X he generated the geopolitics of oppression. Cultivating awareness among the people was not easy as a majority of the Americans were still entangled in the cold war. White supremacy was crippling the consciousness of the black people limiting their pace for social change. Malcolm X stated that the African Americans were wired into thinking they had to defend their masters. However, he added that for people to be politically mature, they ought to adopt the new mentality. People should not allow the oppressors to lay the ground rules ever. The United States was far from being the hub of democracy; instead, it was the beacon of western imperialism. A system that presented itself as an example of liberty and justice was far more corrupt because its citizens lacked the freedom to do as they wish with their lives. For Malcolm X, for the African Americans to conquer the cold war mindset, they had to change their perspective. Some viewed themselves as minorities will always be that, and some identified themselves as part of the larger world. The civil rights campaigns left the African Americans at the mercy of the American legal institutions. The assassination of the rightful leader of Africa Lumumba caused a wave of protests around the world. Patrice Lumumba had a nationalist outlook, which clashed with the projects of Belgian to continue with their influence in Africa, the central apart of Africa. He dreamt of having an independent country and a filly decolonized African, which was contrary to the realities of the cold World War.