Violence against Civil Rights

Hosing down peaceful protestors, sending in the dogs, police brutality; sounds familiar doesn't it? However I do not believe that we have seen such violence against peaceful protestors since the Civil Rights Movement. Hate is the root of discrimination and hate is what you see when you look at the pictures.

Elizabeth Eckford

I found this image on Wikipedia.

This photo seen in the chapter on the Civil Rights Movement stood out in particular to me. You can see the hatred on the white girls face who is screaming right behind Elizabeth. I have never really understood discrimination and it is absolutely shocking to see such hatred. What really caught my attention was the absolute calmness Elizabeth carries as she walks holding her books, not letting the cameras capture any emotion in response to such hatred.

Violence in Birmingham

I found this image at the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website.

I chose this chapter because I think it is important for todays generation to understand how important equal rights are. My generation was not alive during the Civil Rights Movement and we were not there to see the violence against colored people who simply wanted the right to vote. This is a right we all have; we cannot imagine having to fight for this. Although voting rights were given to African Americans after the civil war, most African Americans were denied this right by things such as poll taxes and the grandfather clause.

This chapter is also extremely important because it really emphasizes the impact that television had on Americans. A picture is worth a thousand words and it is the images that were shown at the time that really spoke to the people. 

Violence during the Civil Rights Movement

This image can be found at http://www.euro-webonline.com/world_cultures/images/civil_rights.jpg

Violence during the Occupy Wall Street Movement

I found this image on the ABC News website.

These two images look eerily similar. The police force is responding to the Occupy Wall Street Movement in almost the exact same way as they did to the Civil Rights Movement. It is the looks on the faces of the observers that really get me. The look of complete indifference, or perhaps even interest is utterly shocking! When are they going to learn that violence is not the answer? It wasn't the answer back then, and it isn't the answer today!!