To understand the issue of civil rights, we must go back to the root of the problem, or the first time civil rights were broken or not observed. The very first time slavery is believed to have begun according to history is in the beginning is the beginning of the 17th century. In 1619, the first set of Africans were brought from Angola to Virginia to work for the whites in their fields. Not long after that, the news spread, and more world powers used their power to force these slaves into working for them and they even took over weaker countries and their resources. Portugal, Spain, and the United States mainly started the colonization of various countries in Africa. Asia and North America. Britain’s first colony was North America in 1585, then India in 1612, then the Caribbean in 1623, and many more came after. Other colonizing countries included France, Germany, Netherlands…. Liberia and Ethiopia were the only countries in Africa that were not colonized by greater countries. As countries got tired of being taken advantage of, killed, and sold by their colonizers, they took a stand. In the late 1700s, the underground railroad was created which progressively facilitated the escape of about 100,000 slaves. After multiple setbacks, finally in 1865 slavery was abolished in the USA and countries started getting their independence from colonial governance. This was a big step in history because people were finally seeing freedom and understanding their power. Though slavery wasn’t completely abolished, it was abolished in most parts of the world.
Though slavery was abolished, and many blacks and various races were freed, rights were still being broken and the new issue that arose was discrimination. Colonialism helps explain the reasoning behind discrimination. Though slaves were freed, the reality was that they were still seen as less by their colonizers. This quickly turned into a problem of colorism because the majority of colonists were white and the colonized ranged from Asians, Latin Americans, and mostly Africans. This perceived a false image that supremacy was associated with the color of white people's skin tone. Since most countries that were colonized consisted of a white population, people of different colors were rejected and looked down on in society. “Colored people'' were segregated from everything ranging from access to education, transportation, and in the workplace as well. Only the mediocre jobs were given to the “colored people'', with a lower wage as well. They were only given the least in education, working conditions, and resources. Black people suffered the most segregation, from social injustice to restrictions of human rights such as freedom, equality, or security. After black people were deprived of seats in the bus, restaurants, and schools, they decided to take a stand by organizing peaceful protests led by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and many others. After other countries saw the disastrous injustice being done in the U.S., some foreigners tried to help the black community obtain their rights as well as some white people. It was the television publicity that helped black people gain more support and therefore have a louder voice to be heard. Before they reached success, they first got beaten, sent to jail, and sprayed with gas in all the protests that were done by black people. Even though these were peaceful protests, they were still seen as unacceptable by the government or the society in the U.S. and Canada. It took events such as the imprisonment of Martin L. King and many other activists to finally get the civil rights they deserved. The rights that were being asked by the blacks were the right to security, equality and the right to not be discriminated against. This period of time was named the civil rights movement and ended around the 1940s in Canada and 1954 in the U.S. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed by former president Lyndon B. Johnson and that brought an end to segregation legally.
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In 2013, a new movement came up called “Black Lives Matter”, which advocates for the rights of black people being observed and implemented. Recently, since the beginning of the year, multiple black lives have been killed due to police brutality and this raised a huge political unrest. These black people who were killed weren’t the first to be unjustly killed, but the biggest difference was that these deaths were watched by many people around the world thanks to social media posts. A good example would be the recent shooting of Brianna Taylor and the death of George Flyod as well. Brianna Taylor was a 26-year-old woman who was brutally shot in her home by the police under the excuse that they had a search warrant for her ex-boyfriend. After her death, Black Lives Matter led a movement of peaceful protests to give her justice, but the protests were not everywhere or as severe. To make matters worse, on May 20th, 2020, in Minneapolis, a young father was arrested by the police and did not resist, but a police officer kneeled on his neck until he died. Though this man wasn’t resisting the police and he continuously expressed that he couldn’t breathe, the police officer didn’t stop kneeling on him until he was dead. This whole event was recorded by multiple viewers and spread and shared all over news and social media. This tragic event started the global black lives matter protests that went on for the whole summer of the year 2020. Marchers from Mississippi, where it all happened to all the states in the U.S. even crossed the border and reached Canada and other countries as well. Black people around the globe united with other races that support black lives matter, came together, and marched, demanding legal justice for both Brianna Taylor, George Flyod, and everyone in similar situations. When these protests were being conducted, police sometimes fought the protesters and they were being stopped from having peaceful protests. Many young men and women were hurt or wounded in these protests as well as some police officers too at times. According to a New York Times article, “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History”(Buchanan, 2020).
When you compare the current events that happened with the Black Lives Matter movement, it is very similar to the civil rights movement that happened in the 20th Century. First of all, we see that the audience involved is the same people which are the black community, and they are oppressed by people with higher power. During the civil rights movement, black people conducted peaceful protests but they were still fought violently by the police, which is the case for the BLM protests that happened. Another similarity is that it always takes people suffering severe consequences before the government can respond to the issue and solve it. In the past, people like Rosa Parks had to go to jail and now people such as Brianna Taylor had to die before a change could be made. Social media and news have also been shown to be similar because, in both times, they brought the support from the outside needed in order for more voices to be heard and for a solution to be provided. Lastly, history is recurring because basic human rights such as equality, freedom, and security are being passed out but not implemented. The only difference between the past and the present is that the past protests brought privilege to the current protests because past rights laid the foundation for future generations. This is why it took less time to get justice for George Floyd and Brianna Taylor than it took to get justice for Rosa Parks or Oliver Brown. However, as long as the right to security is passed but not implemented, there will never be a recurrence of racial injustice protests or racial discrimination.
The presence of racism can be explained differently according to various IR theories. One of the International Relations theories that can explain racial injustice is the post-colonialism theory. Post-colonialism is a theory that places its focus on explaining that even if colonialism ended a while ago, the events that occurred in the colonialism time period, still have a huge impact on what happens in history. It not only focuses on the subjects that are neglected in IR, such as gender inequality, and racial justice but it also seeks to find how the world should be. Dr. Randolph B. Persaud explains in detail how colonialism is still affecting the economy of colonized countries and they are behind in the race because of the past events that happened to them. In his article, “Postcolonialism, Race, and International Relations in the Age of Racial Populism”, he expands on the idea that the first problem which takes up the concern of postcolonialism is that change is being done, but some great powers still don’t want change to happen because it works in their benefits. He says that the second biggest issue is how racism relates to politics or the economy and even international interactions ( Pearsaud 2020 ). This explains the reason behind racial injustice because, to begin with, change isn’t being accepted by the ruling powers because white supremacists don’t want to give up their powers. Another important point that is introduced is that if there continues to be racial inequality, there will be political unrest that will follow, which might affect the economy as well and cause chaos in the countries, just like it happened with some protests that occured around May 2020 (Exclusive: Amnesty). Realism also contributes to the issue of racial injustice by bringing an opposite point of view. Unlike postcolonialism, realism supports the power that is in the hands of the state, the belief that the state should have military power for self-security, but this state power is sometimes the root of police brutality. Research was done about the relationship between realism and racism in the book Realism and Racism: Concepts of Race in Sociological Research where they deduced that race is a concept that needs to be broken down into what’s real and what isn’t. In realism, because power is given to the state, state officers sometimes abuse their power which leads to the harm of innocent victims. Errol A. Henderson explains this thought in one of his articles entitled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism in International Relations Theory”:
realists argue that states seek to maximize their power to ensure their security; but the security dilemma ensures that, ironically, each state’s pursuit of its own security leads ultimately to its greater insecurity. ( Hidden, 30)
The opposite of realism would be considered liberalism, the contrary, believes that the state doesn’t need that much power because it should not resolve its problems through violence. Liberalism theory takes a more peaceful approach to problem-solving, and believes that it is the right thing to do due to the reduction in conflict it offers. Liberalism supports events such as the peaceful protests done in the 20th Century as well as nowadays. The clash between realism and liberalism is that realism may encourage the dominance of powerful individuals over weaker or minority groups more than liberalism would. The last theory that falls under this subject is feminism theory which mainly looks for gender equality but also seeks for fair and equal rights for everybody. It is one thing to be black, it is also another to be a woman as well. In history, there were many times when men were given rights but women were refused or denied those same rights. The feminist theory is almost similar to the postcolonial theory in the sense that both have a certain group of people that have always been considered rulers or supreme, and the other group that is considered smaller or less important. These theories both look to show how inequality decreases productivity in society and how economic growth is hindered by unhappiness of the minorities. To sum it all up, inequality originated from the ancient cultural beliefs in society that shaped stereotypes that perceive some people as less and these unbroken stereotypes are what cause continuous racial injustice, gender discrimination, and social inequality as a whole.
The best way to resolve or confront this crisis that we are facing today is by first going back in history and understanding where the issue originated from. Racial injustice or inequality is a problem that is first and foremost psychological, therefore we must begin by responding to it with a psychological approach. Overcoming our racism is a book that breaks down steps to be taken by any race in order to remove the racism in them and become more considerate and understanding of other races (Sue, 2003). Platforms ought to be created where knowledge and stereotypes are discussed and ignorance is removed from people’s minds. If white supremacists don’t understand the wrong in what they are doing, they will never be able to put an end to racial inequality or injustice. After bringing awareness into the world, the next task is equality being demonstrated and taught all over the world from a young age in order to not teach the new generations the same negative ideologies that put us here in the first place. Once we as a whole understand the importance of equality, then we will be able to experience real economic, political, and social growth. Back before colonialism, trade between countries was being done and the same thing can still be useful for the economy without having to forcefully take resources from each other. This would solve not only insecurity but also it would eliminate the source of most conflicts and leave us focusing on useful topics such as the growth and development of our assets. The biggest problem isn’t necessarily having some people or countries at the top, the real issue is how the ones at the bottom are being treated. In any progressive society, there must be a representative in charge but they must forget, that they are in charge of the population and their duty is to help them and not to lead them to ruin. Thanks to globalization, we all need each other, if we can understand that every person has a role to play in the global economy, then black people wouldn’t have to organize protests for their human rights to be exercised. Finally, if everyone is respected and valued by society, then many other theories would be solved, including feminism, queer theory, and possibly Marxism as well. In one of his writings Race and Racism in International Studies, Charles W. Mills mentions that if we have a self-analysis we will consider “Unwriting and unwhitening the world” (Anievas). This will require time because cultures or ideologies that go back multiple centuries will need to be rectified. But until everyone is seen as just a human being and not their color, race, religion, or gender, then racial injustice is bound to remain a problem in today’s history and the future as well.
In conclusion, history is recurring because we don’t change or learn from it. After colonialism, the world should have had its first awareness of inequality and fixed its mistakes. Unfortunately, this was not done, which then was followed by discrimination and segregation of “colored people”. This was the second awareness of racial injustice that was truly present in our society, but it didn’t put an end to racial injustice either. The biggest worry about not learning from history is that the more racial injustice goes on, the harder it gets to correct it and reverse the mistakes made by history. Theories in IR such as postcolonialism and feminism fight for inequality to be erased, whether in politics, workforces, or society as a whole. Authors such as Angela Y. Davis provide an explanation as to why Freedom Is a Constant Struggle and with their help, we may be able to reach victory after the struggle (Erenrich 1999). Although racial, injustice continues to be a recurring problem because not everyone has taken the stand for equality because some people are benefiting from the inequality that is in the world.
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