Wednesday, January 26, 2011

"We Shall Overcome"

Lyndon B. Johnson spoke gracefully and articulately to the people in Selma, Alabama. After a terrible hate crime against African American people took place by the police, it made Johnson's role in the whole ordeal a troublesome one. While he is the commander and chief of the military, he is also responsible for keeping the police in line.
He claimed to be searching for democracy of all people, no matter what race or religion, and over all I felt he was sincere in his search but I felt as if he might have been a little blind to the whole situation, in his quote "There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem." While this idea is optimistic I don't feel like at the time that was really what was happening. There really was a Negro problem, there was a southern vs northern problem. Just because the President didn't want to believe that it was happening doesn't mean that it was actually reality. In fact the protest was mostly African Americans against the White males in this country.
I did like his approach about everyone being equal. How they weren't meeting as democrats or republicans but as Americans. None the less you know that people do not just walk in the door and drop their beliefs, they are always present and in the back of your mind.
While he wanted everyone to get along in practice it was a good idea, but in reality there was still a problem. Even today race is still a constant issue in this country, but it is getting better.

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