PBS: Video: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill: How the Civil Rights Act Opened a Door to the American Dream

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This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

The civil rights acts literally opened the public business domain to all citizens.  It said that if you are open for business to the public you are open for business to every member of the public who wants and can afford for your service.  It prohibited the denial of service and employment to people by business owners on the grounds of race.  I believe that the people who claim property rights on this issue do not understand the American constitution when they say that American business owners have the right to discriminate against anyone they choose for whatever reason.

If you don’t want to serve the entire public, then don’t be open to the public.  Run a private club at which only members can get services and perhaps, employment.  If you are open to the public, that is the entire American public, not the Caucasian public, the African public, the Asian public or any other  racial or ethnic group.   That the public is the entire public and subgroups of  Americans cannot be discriminated against.

 

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The Daily Conversation: Long Lost Martin Luther King Speech

 

Freedom Fighter

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

The thing that I may respect most about Dr. King was his ability to make his case to the country simply based on the facts. With a very sober demeanor that was designed to bring people to his cause based on the facts. That what he was talking about in accomplishing were equal rights under the law. That the United States Constitution guarantees everyone and that all Americans were supposed to be treated equally. And that we were entitled to these rights based under the United States Constitution.

Dr. King wasn’t calling for special rights or treatment for African-Americans. Just the same rights that Caucasian-Americans had and that no one was supposed to be discriminated against based on race. And treated better or worst because of their race. That we are all supposed to be treated equally under the law. And that it wasn’t some law that needed to be passed to guarantee our rights, because these rights were already guaranteed to all Americans again under the United States Constitution.

Dr. King also understood that for him to achieve the goals of his movement, which was racial equality under law, that he was going to need help. That African-Americans couldn’t make this happen on their own. That they needed other Americans including Caucasians as well. Simply because his community was outnumbered and need others to make their goals reality.

The Daily Conversation: Long Lost Dr. Martin Luther King Speech

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Chicago Tribune: Clarence Page: ‘Good Luck, Ben Jealous’

“Good Luck, Ben Jealous”

From the Chicago Tribune

Too bad that Ben Jealous is leaving the NAACP because he brought real credibility there that they need to reach out to non-African-Americans and younger Americans who aren’t nearly as race-conscience as the older leadership in the NAACP and truly look at people as people and not members of races.

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PBS: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill- U.S. Delegate Eleanore H. Norton: ‘On Organizing the March on Washington’

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

“Decades before delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton would represent her district as a congresswoman on Capitol Hill, she worked as one of the original organizers for the March on Washington. Fifty years later, Holmes Norton reflects with Gwen Ifill on her efforts, part of a series of discussions on the legacy of August 28, 1963.”

From the PBS NewsHour

Organizing a march that became the most important event and speech in the American civil rights movement. That was about, yes, civil rights and equal rights for all Americans but also about economics and social and economic justice for low-income Americans.

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Sikivu Hutchinson: ‘Dr King Speaks Deep’

Source:Sikivu Hutchinson– Dr. Reverend Martin L. King I believe in 1968.

“Dr King speaks deep”

From Sikivu Hutchinson

Sounds like Dr. King talking about proposing Federal public funding for African-American colleges and universities.

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PBS: Newshour- Gwen Ifill & William P. Jones- ‘March on Washington Had More Radical Roots Than Remembered’

Source:PBS NewsHour– Gwen Ifill interviewing Professor William P. Jones.

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. It is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.”

From Wikipedia

“Historian William P. Jones joins Gwen Ifill to offer an overview of how the March on Washington came to be, why President Kennedy feared it would cause negative aftermath and what roles women of color played on that historic day. Their discussion is one a series of conversations looking back at the legacy of August 28, 1963.”

From the PBS NewsHour

The 1963 March on Washington was about individual freedom and equal rights for African-Americans. That is how the civil rights movement started out in the 1950s and 60s.

But as the movement moved along and by the time the late 1960s came around especially after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act and 1968 Fair Housing Law all passed Congress and were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, the movement then shifted towards economic issues and policy.

What Socialists call economic justice and social justice which are about addressing poverty in America and creating an economic system that expanded economic opportunity to more Americans especially low-income Americans and wasn’t exclusively for African-Americans, but Americans in general who lived in poverty and had no hope for a bright future.

The civil rights movement moves from equal rights under law for all Americans in the early and mid 1960s, to economic and social justice by the late 1960s. And had a real social democratic feel to it and moving American past the New Deal and Great Society and building off of those agendas. Which is what Socialists especially on the Left say further Left in the Democratic Party and Green Party, talk about doing today.

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RBG Street Scholar: James Baldwin & Dick Gregory- ‘Baldwin’s Nigger (1969)’

Source:RBG Street Scholar– about James Baldwin’s 1969 documentary.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on WordPress.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

“RBG-James Baldwin and Dick Gregory Baldwin’s Nigger (1969)”

From RBG Scholar

James Baldwin’s message seems to be about individual empowerment and individual freedom, that African-Americans should empower themselves and standup for their own lives and take charge of their own lives. And perhaps even stop complaining. Not forget about all the injustices that came to this community before, but for this community to move forward, they need to take control of their own lives and build their own lives and communities.

Dick Gregory, who what I’ve heard from him, sounds more like Martin King, then Malcolm X, when it came to the civil rights movement, or the Black Power movement. Someone who not only believes in non-violence, but believes in social democracy and democratic socialism when it comes to solving the problems of the African-American community. In this speech, sounds more like Malcolm X. Talking about personal responsibility, to go along with individual freedom and empowerment.

In this Baldwin speech he seems to be arguing that African-Americans, should stand up and take their freedom and build their own community. And not expect others to do that for them. Sounds very much like Malcolm X. Fighting violence with violence, which is essentially what Malcolm X preached when it came to racist Caucasians who abuse African-Americans, would’ve not of accomplished what was needed to end racist laws and state-sponsored racism. Because it wouldn’t have brought other communities to support the African-American freedom fighters.

But individual freedom through education and economic development and infrastructure in underserved communities, would give African-Americans the tools that they need to live in freedom.

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