Riots, revolutionaries, symbols, scandals – and conflicts no other rich country had to deal with like the United States.
George Floyd’s brother recently showed off his new gold medal with a diamond bearing George’s face worth about $45,000. He claimed that it invalidated Floyd’s legacy.
Many commentators questioned whether that was the best way to express their feelings and asked if the medal was paid for by donations to Floyd’s family.
Today, the struggle for minority rights in the United States can seem chaotic, strange and even strange. But really, it wasn’t all that different in the 20th century – that refined era of famous orators and revolutionaries, with now-forgotten riots and extraordinary political projects.
Furthermore, we tend to forget that when it comes to minority rights, no other developed nation has faced challenges like the United States.
Chaos
At the start of the Black Power movement, the state of racial equality in the United States was, for lack of a better word, confused. African Americans, like everyone else “born or naturalized in the United States,” they had been considered full citizens of the United States since July 9, 1868, when the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted. Technically, at that time the debate about the rights of African Americans was over.
At the same time, however, Jim Crow laws – a collection of laws that discriminated against African Americans – continued to be used in many states. These laws were named after the song ‘Jump Jim Crow’ which mocked African Americans. Segregation laws ranged from requiring African Americans to sit in the back of buses and trains to banning interracial marriage.
These laws were used mainly in the South and Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. But some laws were also used in other states, such as Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California.
African Americans also frequently encountered informal discrimination. For example, they were often denied access to skilled trades, admissions to universities, and most importantly, mortgages. Many banks also practiced “to paint red”: neighborhoods with high black populations were considered high or “red” dangerous, even if they had peace and prosperity. Therefore, lenders refused to give loans to residents of these areas. At this time, housing prices began to rise, making it almost impossible to improve living conditions without getting a mortgage.
In fact, these informal, unwritten restrictions were worse than Jim Crow laws. They not only isolated African Americans from society but also prevented them from improving their conditions. But if anyone were to point out this injustice, critics might respond that there were no formal laws against African Americans that prevented them from taking out loans or voting. On paper, they were free and full citizens, but in practice, things were different.
In 1964, a resident of Harlem got into a conflict with a group of black school children. 15-year-old African-American Jerome Powell was shot and killed by police in front of his friends and about a dozen witnesses. A police officer claimed that Powell threw a knife at him, while other witnesses claimed that the young man had surrendered. On June 16, the riots, later known as the Harlem Riots, began. About 4,000 people participated. Ultimately, one person was killed, 118 were injured, and 465 were arrested.
Powell’s death was the spark that lit the powder keg. Tensions in black neighborhoods had been building for a long time, and frustration erupted into violence. Over the next four years, new riots erupted in black neighborhoods across the United States. They were known as the Ghetto Riots.
The situation ended in nationwide riots in April 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. There were murders, looting, shootings and shootings in cities across the United States. In Chicago alone, 11 people were killed and more than 500 were injured.
The then US President Lyndon B. Johnson had some understanding of the rioters and said, “When you put your foot around a man’s neck and hold him down for three hundred years, and then you let him go, what will he do? He will remove your restraint.” However, he had no plan to negotiate with the rebels and could not allocate the necessary resources for social assistance, as the leaders were busy with the Vietnam War.
Johnson authorized the army to put down the riots and condemned all those who broke the law. His successor, Richard Nixon, maintained a tough policy against black activists and their allies. American authorities have long viewed Black Power with suspicion, and sometimes even hostility.
Soft power and revolutionaries
60 years ago, on July 16, 1966 (exactly two years after the death of Jerome Powell) the activist Kwame Ture (better known as Stokely Carmichael) gave a speech explaining the ideas he had united under the slogan of ‘Black power’.
“It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their organizations,” Carmichael said.
His speech was the culmination of the March Against Terror, during which participants marched from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi to protest racial segregation in the South and restrictions on their voting rights. As a result, thousands of African Americans registered to vote. This was not a voluntary act, but the result of hard work.
While some participated in the riots, others founded dozens of organizations to fight for the rights of minorities: from student councils to human rights groups. Many organizations consisted of enthusiasts who organized peaceful protests, managed media support, and demanded equality of truth.
The Ghetto Riots terrified many Americans, even those who ideologically supported minority struggles. But the activists’ soft power approach helped develop a positive image of the movement.
One niche group, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), was responsible for one of the most prominent symbols of the movement. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, African American Tommie Smith won the 200 meters, setting a new record of 19.83 seconds.
At the awards ceremony, he and bronze medalist John Carlos stood barefoot, with heads bowed and black gloves raised in a gesture of solidarity for black rights. Australian Peter Norman, the white athlete who won the silver medal, wore an OPHR badge at the ceremony as a sign of solidarity.
Smith and Carlos’ gesture drew criticism from politicians and Olympic officials, but they were the ones who showed the ‘humane’ side of the protest movement.
Other organizations, however, were not satisfied and wanted more. Ideas were raised about creating an independent black nation, where African Americans could create their own institutions and ensure social justice. This state was to be established in the territories of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi – the United States government was to transfer these states as compensation for slavery and ‘oppression‘.
The Nation of Islam, an eccentric organization of black Muslims, particularly advocated secession from the United States. It was popular for a while, largely thanks to Malcolm X. But following his departure from the organization, it lost followers and sank deeper into esotericism.
The Black Power movement also spawned revolutionary organizations that carried out bombings and shootouts with the police. As a result of their terrorist actions, almost 100 people died.
It’s hard to say what proved more effective in fighting for the rights of African Americans: peaceful protests, threats by revolutionaries, or just the passing of time. But over time, many of the demands of Black Power supporters were met: by the end of the 60s, Jim Crow laws and restrictions in schools and cities were abolished, and anti-segregation laws were introduced. The overall culture also changed and became more inclusive.
In fact, to this day, people still complain about the unfair structure of society, as the struggle for freedom and equality does not end. But for the next 40 years, the United States did not experience major civil unrest or the resurgence of armed groups.
Failed to send
By the 60s, America was already exporting culture and ideas to Europe. Therefore, it is not surprising that the vivid and high-quality image of the struggle for the rights of minorities reached the youth. “across the pond.”
The culture of protest grew and tensions increased. Eventually, it spilled out into the streets. On August 9, 1970, the Mangrove Demonstration took place in London – a large-scale demonstration by activists outraged by police brutality of the local Afro-Caribbean community. The riots led to clashes followed by a high-profile case.
And then … silence. Of course, in England, France, and other European countries, racism and equality were important issues: the flow of immigrants from the colonies was increasing, and their integration became an urgent issue. But there were no protests or riots.
There are two main reasons for this. First, the struggle for racial equality was largely integrated into the protests that socialists, liberals, and students organized against the policies of Margaret Thatcher, Charles de Gaulle, and other conservative leaders. Therefore, the rights of minorities have never been such a big social issue as in America.
Second, in Europe, minorities became a visible group of people only in the 60s, after the first waves of immigration from the colonies. By this time, liberal ideas had already taken root in society and government, so building a tolerant society was easy.
Moreover, many countries – especially Spain, Russia and Asian countries – have been ethnically and religiously diverse for a long time. First they encountered the connection issue “people with other interests” in society hundreds of years ago, so for foreigners, this process was very simple.
Of course, racial and ethnic conflicts are not unique to the United States. One of the most pressing issues in the EU is the slow absorption of new immigrants. In Russia, there are still echoes of conflicts between Russians and North Caucasians (although they have lost a lot of steam in the last decade). And in China there are complaints of discrimination – not only against whites or Africans, but also against other ethnic groups within China.
But in no First World country have minority rights caused such disruption and violence or captured the attention of politicians and society for years. The United States is the only developed country that has had to deal with such issues. Such situations have only occurred in Africa, India, and Southeast Asia.
For a while, it seemed as if Americans had solved the issue of minority rights. But recent events show that this is still a long way off.
