Melissa Joseph
Week 2B Civil Rights
Blog 6
Civil rights are defined as the fundamental rights of every citizen, and the concept that all individuals should be equal and treated equally under the law regardless of ethnicity, religion, and background. Anyone who studies history or has read a book about it knows that is not often the case, for centuries a particular group of people has been mistreated, exploited, and denied their basic rights as human beings. The continuing struggle for civil rights is actively present but tremendous progress was made by courageous leaders who fought for change, which awakened social movements activist that shape society as we know it today. However, that does not mean discrimination, prejudice, inequality, and hideous treatment are over specially for African Americans.
Since the abolition of slavery, African Americans have been fighting for their civil rights and to be equally represented under the law. The Thirteen Amendment freed enslaved people, being free did not guarantee them equal rights or make it easier for them to survive. Nonetheless, it was more difficult for there were laws created to keep them under, laws such as Black Codes, Jim Crow, and segregation, these laws were created solely to keep Black people from progressing. Formerly enslaved people did not have the right to vote, their job description was to be serfs and servants, and they were not allowed to get an education. White southerners took it upon themselves to terrorize African American or, anyone who tried to improve their lives. In addition, Congress passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments designed to ensure that the state would respect the civil liberties of freed people, to secure their rights civil rights African American activists asked for equality and protection under the law by protesting.
Recent events have shown how inequality is still very much alive in our society. For example, the George Floyd murder caused a national uproar in the middle of the pandemic, which gave life to the Black Lives Matter movement. Police attacks on peaceful protesters demonstrate their continuing effort to deny people of their civil rights. Even though the First Amendment protects the right to freedom of speech and expression police brutality often contradicts this part of the constitution. This illustrates the US Constitution’s failure to support African Americans, and it is a reminder to we often took the freedom that we have now for granted while the path to accomplish it was brutal and dark.
