The civil rights movement of 1963 was legitimate in every way. What we have today is hate-based and illegitimate
Warner Todd Huston , Bio and Archives--January 5, 2015
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The Demands: Page four of the original committee program for the 1963 civil rights march on Washington.
In only a few instances the demands were skewed toward an un-American socialism, but the bulk of them were wholly in keeping with our national character and our rule of law.
The list of demands included the demand that Congress pass meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; and an Executive Order banning discrimination in all housing supported by federal funding.
These demands were from people who only wanted to be treated as equals in society, people who just wanted a chance to make their own way in life unhindered by government sponsored oppression.
In only two instances the demands were not in keeping with American ideals. In the one case the protesters wanted a $2 an hour minimum wage–a minimum wage being a socialist, not a proper capitalist policy. And in the other they wanted a public-works program to provide jobs for unemployed workers. This is also not an endeavor in which government should ever engage. Government does not make jobs. It only burdens taxpayers with undue spending.
To be sure, both these points were ideas that many left-wing Americans and Democrats would have then taken as proper roles for government then, but they weren’t proper American actions in WWI, they weren’t in the Great Depression, not during WWII, nor the era of The Great Society just as they aren’t today. Still, this is mild criticism of the goals of the civil rights protest movement in 1963.
Further, it should be noted that the demand for the jobs program–despite that it isn’t a proper role for an American government–were formulated to include both “the Negro” and Whites.
Ultimately, the protest in 1963 was righteous and entirely peaceful quite despite the fact that protesters were trying to stop the lynchings, false imprisonments, and oppression of a single segment of the American polity that had been ongoing for some 200 years.
Now comes the BlackLivesMatter/Furgeson/ICan’tBreathe/Eric Garner (et al) protests. In contrast to those of 1963, these protests are built on lies.
In the case of Ferguson, Mike Brown wasn’t “murdered” by a white Missouri police officer, nor was he an “innocent” or a “gentle giant.” He was a criminal who had just committed a strong arm robbery and seconds before he was shot he had physically attacked the officer and tried to take away the man’s gun.
In the case of Eric Garner, he wasn’t “murdered” by New York cops with an illicit “choke hold.” He died because he was an unhealthy, obese man who couldn’t take the physical action of resisting arrest he had initiated.
Yet, these two incidents launched several violence-filled months that have resulted in disparate groups issuing all sorts of infantile manifestos and demands, none of which are either logical or in keeping with the American ethos.
In fact, the only known national leader of these groups is Al Sharpton, a shakedown con man who has a history of inciting violence, lying, abetting murders, tax evasion, theft and hucksterism.
Worse, though, are the “demands” issued by Sharpton and these other groups. These “demands” being made by the disparate protest groups are based on the fantasy that protesters can force their version of “justice” by misusing the legal system to arrive at their own preconceived notion of what that means. Their only goal is to punish evil white people. Period.
To a group, these “demands” are filled with claims that white officers should simply be arrested regardless of guilt–the guilt is predetermined in their form of “justice.” Further, the protesters insist that the federal government step in and serve more of this illicit “justice” based on selfish desires of punishing evil white people instead of based on true justice as were those demands in 1963.
Sadly, they don’t really want justice as their “No Justice, No Peace” chant proves. They want retribution or revenge based on hate and emotionalism, not justice.
The civil rights movement of 1963 was legitimate in every way. What we have today is hate-based and illegitimate.View Comments
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
He is also the owner and operator of Publius’ Forum.