“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won. You
earn it and win it in every generation.” –Coretta Scott King, page666 The
1960’s were a time of great turmoil in America and throughout the world. One
of the main topics that arouse was black civil rights. In my essay I plan to
compare the difference of opinion between these particular writers and
directors, towards racism and the civil rights movement in the 1960’s The
movement truly got underway with civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King
jr. and Malcolm X in the early 1960’s. Students who wanted to bolt on the
equality and protest bandwagon quickly followed. Most of the students went to
the Southern states (Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc.), to stop the racism
and hate crimes. The truth of the matter is that the violence and abhorrence
would get worse before it got better. The Klan became stronger and more violent,
committing many more lynching and gruesome murders. Bit by bit most of the
Caucasian Americans came around to the idea of integration, and did not believe
that the African Americans as a ‘threat’ anymore. The only reason that this
great monumental change occurred was because of the great leadership of Malcolm
X, Martin Luther King jr., and not to mention the thousands of other less famous
civil rights leaders, that worked to change the views of their community. There
also where lobbyist and protesters that risked there lives and went out on a
limb to struggle against injustice. All factors, put together, made one of the
better most changes of the twentieth century. Rob Rheiner (the director of Ghost
of Mississippi) has successfully portrayed the blatant dishonesty towards blacks
by the police force and Mississippi courts. On one occasion when the accused
murderer was in court, the Govener of the state went up and shook hands right in
front of the victim’s wife. Another example of dishonesty against blacks was
that a retired judge had taken home murder weapons (mainly from the African
American murders) and kept them as souvenirs. It was later discovered that the
police officers had also taken home evidence from crimes against the African
Americans, for souvenirs. The murderer portrayed a “couldn’t care less”
attitude during the first trial in 1962 and the retrial in 1992. He knew that he
would be found not guilty in the 1960’s with the all-male, white jury. In his
retrial though he under-estimated the changes in people’s views in the thirty
years since his first trial, and he presented a cocky attitude throughout the
whole retrial. The writer of Malcolm X, Bernard Aquina Doctor, has informatively
shown (with some bias) the life of Malcolm X. He wanted to show that Malcolm
pulled himself out of the gutter to become one of the most famous and respected
civil rights leaders in our history so far. He tells us this by showing his life
when he hung around with criminals and was into committing small thefts, etc. In
this text he was shown as having all the right ideas of how to deal with the
problems that were facing minorities at the time, Malcolm believed in violent
protest, and Martin L-K jr., another major leader for the civil rights movement
believed that protesting should be non-violent. Dr.King though, was forced to
reconsider his views when he was thrown into jail and was badly beaten. This
text is similar to the Rosa Parks text in the way the writer (for a Rosa Parks
book) looked upon Rosa Parks, as Malcolm X, in a revered way. Rosa Parks a Woman
Who Changed a Nation, by Kira Albini, is focused on the great injustice that the
black community has been faced with. She talks about the fact that blacks had to
pay at the front of the bus and then walk around the outside of the bus to the
back door where, more often then not, the bus driver would pull away without
them being on, although they paid. Rosa Parks came into fame after she refused
to give up her seat on the bus to a white man; this came at the time the civil
rights movement was under way. The story was published throughout America. The
Martin Luther King jr. article in ‘Encarta ‘98’, is an overlook on his
life and achievements. It pays special attention to his ‘I have a dream
speech.’ It has such quotes as “I have a dream that one day this nation will
rise up and live out the true meaning of it’s creed.” It also enclosed quite
a bit of background to the speech exsplaing what he wanted for America, which
was equality and justice for all. Kings assassination also covered with details
about the FBI’s spying on him and what he has done for American society. The
text is purely factual. The ‘I have a dream speech’ by Martin Luther king
jr. has a potent message which is delivered in a powerful manner. He managed too
reach both the African American, white American, Latino American, Asian
American, and every other type of ethnicity, that was living in America through
this time period. Martin Luther King jr. was for the idea of integration and
hoped that someday it would be self evident that all men are created equal.
Those is shown by the quote “One day right there in Alabama little black boys
and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and girls as
sister’s and brother’s.” This quote is so dynamic and imaginative. Alan
Parker, who directed Mississippi Burning, made a powerful movie about a small
Mississippi town with a large Klan and small-minded residence. FBI agents were
called to investigate the murder of one black man and two Jews. When one of the
sheriff’s deputies was up on trial for beating a black man, the judge said
“crimes were provoked by outside influences,” and the deputies received
suspended sentences. This is similar to the movie “Ghost of Mississippi”
because of the courts racest attitude, and the fact that he did not convict a
white man for the death of a black men. Most of the locals at the trial or in
the court system where memebers of the K.K.K and shard the same views as the
judge and police. One of the town’s folk said “We don’t except Jews
because they reject Christ and have control of international banking cartels,
they are the root of what we call communism today. We do not accept papists,
because they bow to a Roman dictator; Turks, Mongols, Tartars, Orientals, or
Negro’s because we are here to protect Anglo-Saxon democracy for Americans.”
In conclusion, the topic of racism and civil rights of the ‘60’s is a large
one with many different viewpoints. I think that martin Luther King jr., had the
right idea of integration and non-violent protest. Malcolm X’s idea of
integration was untenable. You can not ask to be treated like a King, and while
becoming King do what the other King was doing to everyone else. It sometimes
seems right to say an eye for an eye, but it was avius in this situation it
wouldn’t work because Know would listen that way. The text with the most
relevance to me was “The Ghost of Mississippi” because it really showed how
unjust African American where treated; the unnecessary cruelty and treatment of
blacks wound up having nothing to do with them, but that people felt the need to
try and be soupier over someone else. Which has proven to be a fatal mistake,
many times. Quotes “We don’t except Jews because they reject Christ and have
control of international banking cartels, they are the root of what we call
communism today. We do not accept papists, because they bow to a Roman dictator;
Turks, Mongols, Tartars, Orientals, or Negro’s because we are here to protect
Anglo-Saxon democracy for Americans.”(page 3) “One day right there in
Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little
white boys and girls as sister’s and brother’s.”(page 3) “I have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of it’s
creed.”(page 2) “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really
won. You earn it and win it in every generation.” –Coretta Scott King(page1)


Bibliogaphy



The
Ghost of Mississippi; Rob Rheiner; Columbia Tristar; 1992 Bernard Aquina Doctor;
Malcolm X; 1992; Writers and Readers publishing inc. Kira Albin; Quiet Strength:
The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation; 2000;
Zondervan Publishing House Mississippi Burning; Alan Parker; (I don’t know the
company that produced it); 1988