Reaction #10- LBJ: Black-White America

What evidence does LBJ offer as proof of the widening economic gap between black and white Americans? How does he explain this gap?

Lyndon B. Johnson spoke of the social and economic gaps between black and white Americans at his commencement address. He talks of the hardships they endured and the fight they fought to gain the rights everyone else had. He speaks of the hypocrisy and injustices that the American people overlooked day to day.

He uses an analogy to describe it and essentially says it would be unfair to merely free the black Americans and allow them to be thrown in the real world without any kind of help. He speaks of the knowledge one gets from growing up. That a growing individual learns from his or her environment or neighborhood and specifically the type of schools they went to, thus giving the white Americans who had better access to public facilities and education an advantage.

He goes as far as to say that the African Americans are part of ‘’another nation’’ and is completely right in doing so. The white Americans surely did not view everyone as their “equals” and used, abused, and exploited at almost any opportunity they were given. In addition the viewing of a ‘’separate society’’ made it more difficult for African Americans to find jobs in “White America” and thus led to the higher unemployment rate in comparison to the White unemployment rate.

The Cartoon illustration essentially depicts this feeling in that the White Americans came to America and used slavery to get their economy started and used them as the main source of labor to create America. Once the atrocities were realized and enough people had decided to stand up against slavery, most of the White Americans had already reaped their benefits and could live lavishly without. They ended up ending slavery but left the African Americans where they were, the White land owners and White politicians and essentially White America did nothing to help the very people who helped America achieve a strong economic start.

Reaction #9- "Cheerful Robots"

According to C. Wright Mills, Americans during the 1950s were Cheerful Robots. Using his excerpt, what you've read in the text, and heard in class, why is that description fitting (don't just repeat or rephrase what's in the Mills article).

The United States has always prided itself on the ideology of allowing all of its inhabitants to live freely without being wrongly persecuted for their beliefs, socioeconomic status, or any kind of physical barriers. In the time leading up to and during the cold war many people were afraid of allowing any kind of communist power gain an inch of control and like in any other time of war, Americans rights were infringed on. In addition the people were being preached to and believed that the American way of life was the best it had ever been.

Being completely free is a very difficult subject because it truly depends on what the person views as being free. Does one want merely the freedom of choice or does one want to make and participate in the change? I feel that is the ideas that C. Write Mills was trying to get out, he was attempting to tell us that the government had everything planned out in front of us and that our votes were nothing more than a formality the government officials had to fight for. The fact is that people will fight for power and once gained will very seldom look out for their constituents, they each have a dark side. What kind of freedom was this if Americans were being represented by people who didn’t look out for their best interests? The Japanese Americans that were rounded up in internment camps had done nothing wrong. The immigration quotas were nothing more than a manifestation of American racism, yet we touted the fact that we would lead the free world and that any other leadership was wrong. We did not only preach this ideology but enforced it with divisive tactics through the CIA.

As for the American way of life, people were becoming used to the monotonous routine of life, rather than happy with something they could have done on their own. More and more was expected out of the family as the caregiver became the mother and the breadwinner became the father and any alteration of this family setup was seen negatively. In addition this new society left the minorities out of the picture all together, literally to fight for themselves. The Americans were as he stated ‘’Cheerful Robots,’’ totally unaware of what was happening to and around them, yet they accepted the situations and lived life without any interruptions.

Reaction #8- Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Read the excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S. did not immediately ratify the Declaration. What policies and practices within the U.S. conflicted with many of the principles of the Declaration? (10 pts)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a document that was constructed in time of hardships in a way to address the problems in such a way that could potentially be used to give aid to the under privileged or disadvantaged. The problems that countries had with it are that they would never want an outside entity to have any kind of control over their own government.

This doctrine promised that all people were born equal and had the right to equal opportunities no matter what kind of background they came from. It was a huge ideology jump from the older times that had previously ruled the world. It was a declaration that had the prospect to end discrimination; however, there was no such luck.

This declaration was split into two separate sections, the first concerning Civil and Political Rights, and the second concerning Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Obviously each country signing this declaration would have a problem with either the first or second part. Either way this declaration pointed the World’s nations in the right direction, which was that they needed to start taking care of their citizens, because any further wars would lead to the imminent destruction of each other. It was a response to the cruelty that had just been witnessed worldwide in World War II that was still fresh in everyone’s minds.

One of the most important parts of the declaration in my opinion, is that concerning the children and future. It has special attention made to children whom they claim will all need equal and adequate education, health, and proper living conditions. They must protect the morality of the children, and ensure they have the uppermost respect for human life.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document that was drafted way before it’s time. It was an idea so fresh and new to everyone that few could even entertain the idea of providing help to the disadvantaged. The United States principles of Capitalism and ‘’dog-eat-dog’’ competition as well as the “American-Dream” in which you must pave your own path in the United States sharply contrasts what this declaration is attempting to give- a safe productive environment to all of humankind.