Sara Niles
Riots and acts of ‘Civil Disobedience’, even
peaceful protests are signs that something is wrong on a large scale. The history
of civil disobedience in the U.S. has, in each individual case resulted when a
sense of injustice lay smoldering in the minds of many until it erupted as a
visible sign of unrest; a few examples from the past include the 1965 Watts Riot,
which occurred hot on the heels of the Harlem riots a year before. In both
cases there was a prevailing mindset of racial discrimination and maltreatment
of Blacks, a sense of wrongness about things that festered untended by
political forces. There needed to be change but no change was coming, and there
was no sign of change in the near The earlier riots were clumsy attempts at
forcing change and were forerunners of the
national acts of civil disobedience that
were to come, as more and more people became acutely aware of injustice.
The building mindset of racial injustice ignited a
human rights storm that set the stage for the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement,
with Martin Luther King emerging as its leader (http://www.detroits-great-rebellion.com/Birmingham.html).
Change was being forged as history was made. The major work of the civil right
movement took place in the 1960’s, but there is still work to be done when it
comes of justice and human rights.
The issue at stake in the 60’s was a matter of being
treated fairly, justly, and with respect, just as it is now in Ferguson, Missouri
as crowds continue to protest the slaying of Michal Brown, an unarmed Black
teenager, who was shot ‘at least six times’ according to autopsy reports, by a
White police officer lCNN:Missouri Teen
The Civil Disobedience in Fergusson Missouri is a
sign of a much bigger issue in the United States: a double standard between the
treatment of Whites and Blacks in the justice system. The fair exercise of
human rights applies equally to all races, and all economic divisions; because
justice should be a basic human right of all people.
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