Blog Entry #4 - Relevance

Introduction

Hello readers, welcome back to my blog. In this post, I'll be talking about the last portion of the book Race, and how it relates to some recent events all over the world. Keeping up with the chronological theme of the book, the last 70 or so pages I have read covered events from around 1904 to more recent times. Having the book allows me to relate recent events to some events that most of you will already be familiar with.

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Needless to say, there has been a relatively recent surge in the broadcasting of racial justice speech. Following the deaths of numerous African American people in 2020, the United States erupted into protests and demonstrations throughout its borders. Admittedly, I was not as caught up on the happening of last year as I, and a lot of us should have been. But reading my book has encouraged me to revisit some of the stories and media from the events of 2020. The conversations and problems brought up last year relate directly to a lot of the stories Marc Aronson relays in one of the chapters I read in particular. This chapter was regarding the protests in Selma, Alabama in the '60s. 

March 7th, 1965, Selma, Alabama

In my research, I found a great article on the subject by History here. I would highly recommend reading that to get some more backstory than I can provide. Shortly stated, the protests that occurred in Selma at this time were met with brutal and unnecessary police force. While hundreds of African American men and women were locked away in prison for their demonstrations, there was still a glimmer of hope for their cause. 

Like the protests of today, much of what happened in 1965 was televised and talked about all over America. Northern states previously oblivious to the occurrences in the South now saw everything. It could be argued that it was this mass of broadcasts that really exposed to the rest of the country what was happening in some southern states. 

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"Forty-eight million Americans watching television and examining their consciences were more powerful than any local violence. Eight days after the Selma march, President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed the very first tough, effective bill in American history that guaranteed blacks the right to vote."(243)

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The Undeniable Power of Media

The perseverance, passion, and undying belief in their cause is comparable to the bravery of the protestors of recent times. From to the outcry of the few, the voices of the many responded with uproar and support, sparking thousands of protests across dozens of cities in America, and numerous other countries. The world came together to voice its support for the Black Lives Matter cause. One large aspect of the spread of the BLM movement was the stories being published on the news. But one of the most important ways information was broadcasted was through the rapid form of communication only social media could provide. 

A lone man stands amid clouds of tear gas. - Ben gray

Most of my generation found out about Mr. Floyd's death and subsequent protests on Instagram and Snapchat before we heard it on the news. The informal nature of various social media platforms allowed the conversation to drift from businessmen on the television to everyday people. Like the following weeks after the injustices in Selma, the issue spread like wildfire to the homes of everyone in the country.

An important, world-wide discussion was established in 2020. I don't know about you readers, but my family had not talked about race issues in America for my whole life as much as we did last year. In addition to those discussions, statues with troublesome histories were taken down, and lawmakers are beginning to take steps towards making the streets of every city in America safe for everyone. 

Going from reading Aronson's words to the stories as of late is inspiring. It shows the ability of the American people to rise above hate and to collaborate on a shared cause. If that isn't what we should be building our country off of, I don't what is.

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Thank you for reading.

Gray, Ben. A lone man stands amid clouds of tear gas. 31 May 2020. The Mercury
     News, www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/31/
     photos-best-images-of-george-floyd-protests-around-the-nation-and-world/.
     Accessed 25 Mar. 2021.

Klein, Christopher. "How Selma's 'Bloody Sunday' Became a Turning Point in the
     Civil Rights Movement." History, 18 July 2020, www.history.com/news/
     selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement. Accessed 25 Mar. 2021.