can someone tell me how the struggle to rid ourselves of the jim crow laws reflects the dichotomy of the west?
89906
The West values freedom and equality as two of our foundational principles.  (See the Declaration of Independence for an example of those principles defined.)  And yet, Jim Crow laws, which legalized segregation and deprived blacks of their civil rights in voting, education, public transportation, etc., were the antithesis of equality, and for blacks, freedom.  Therefore, the fact that segments of our society fought so hard to retain these laws revealed a dichotomy in our attitudes toward equality.  "All men are created equal" said the Declaration, "but some are more equal than others", Jim Crow told us, in essence.
944248
Well that has to do with a combination of history, human nature and pure and simple discrimination.\n\nLet's examine those one at a time:\n1. History - the USA was created by white men therefore white men gained power and control from the beginning. It is always difficult for another race to gain power when one race has complete control. Btw, this also applies to gender.\n2. Human nature - when any one race gets into power, it is human nature to want to keep power within that one race.\n3. Discrimination - there have actually been a few studies on this that were used to justify Affirmative Action. It is not that white males intentionally discriminate. The studies illustrated that when a certain type of person, say a white male, is conducting a job interview, that ppl tend to like ppl the most like themselves. I'm saying that a white male that say has a wife and kids is more likely to hire a white male of the same situation not because he intentionally discriminates but that is human nature also.\n\nBtw #3 applies to all races and gender.
729292
Interestingly enough, the 1960's era civil rights movement in America was HIGHLY influenced by Reverand Martin Luther King-whose claim was that the moral laws of God were not being carried out in the laws of America, he used the lack of equality as an example of this. \n\nThis is religion in government. Also, growth in the popular movement for Americans to free their slaves came about because most Northern abolitionists were preachers and church goers who thought slavery was a sin against man. This is why they wanted slave laws removed from their legal systems. \n\nReligion plays a very important role, and though we may claim to govern "secularly" there is no way around the moral influence of religion.
425303
The laws of the 1960 help race relations because finally the mainly white ruling class of our government heard the cries of  injustice and acted to help its citizens. The laws made it a policy that the US would no longer treat a portion of its citizen as second class forcing the culture to adapt as well.
563680
They didn't do a lot except give the blacks the right to vote, made them citizens and something else I don't know.\nIf I was you I will say that it didn't unify the culture using the following:\n1 The southerners had literacy tests and etc to keep black from voting. \n2 most of the blacks thus ended up becoming sharecroppers under white elites. See so no unification. \n3 Separate but equal segregation later on completely destroyed the meaning of these amendments by going around them and making blacks less equal. \nHope that helps.
273681
We may have a lot to complain about but at least we have civil rights. Many people, like my husband, flee a country with a  political regime that makes daily life for its citizenry downright miserable. What we complain about in the USA is frivolous and petty in comparison with the real troubles facing citizens of many of the countries in the world today.
90053
There are entire books on this subject, so I'm not going to get too detailed.\n\nThe practice of slavery was an issue left up to individual states.  The states in the Southern region chose slavery because their economies were largely agrarian.  They produced raw goods like cotton.  The states in the Northern region were primarily industrial.  They produced finished goods, which meant they had less of a need for slave labor.\n\nWhen the country started spreading to the West, the Southern states assumed the new territories would be able to vote individually on the slavery issue.  The federal government, which tended to sympathize with the more developed Northern states, decided that it should be the one to assign 'slave' or 'non-slave' status as each new state was recognized.  The idea that individual states would no longer have the power to determine their own policies was objectionable to Southern representatives in Congress.  They voted to secede from the Union in order to preserve the rights of individual states.  The federal government desperately wanted to keep the supply states and the manufacturing states together for economic strength.\n\nIt's easy to portray the Southern cause as immoral, but in reality the number of large plantations with large slave populations was minimal.  The majority of Southerners were no more racist than Northerners.  The federal government eventually prevailed through superior firepower, not superior morality.
848247
Things haven't change a bit sinse then compared to 50's and 60's esp during the segregation period. Georgia, is the most racist state I know, and mississippi too. I think it's really racist everywhere, things havent changed, martin king did have a dream, that all whites and black would be sitting at the table together, well that dream did come true, because we do have alot of interracial marriages more than we did back in the day. I think now statistically, even the "majority" will disagree with this. but minorities are now becoming the majoritities....
942880
.As a black person i fell that we  must teach our children the sevenpence of this ugly word, that means the history and how it was used to demoralize us and how some of us died to eradicate this word in  association with our Race. It also has to do with self hater. we must at all cost  educate to never except this in our ever day conversation. I can't say the word either but my parents instill the important of it.  we come from the greatest civilizations.  Lets wrap ourselves in it we mustn't forget those that died for the right to definite ourselves. Great subject thanks for asking.
1122097
No, I own my own business and am obviously older than you.\n\nFirst, study your history.\nBlack slaves were more physically capable than whites or Indians and quickly replaced both in agriculture which demanded hard, manual labor under bad conditions. No other group as a race was as strong and productive. Without them, the South would not have benefitted from a strong cotton and sugar industry. The North that bought these products and processed them would not have been as productive either. It was only when the south threatened to go directly to Europe where prices were cheaper than the more expensive North that the slavery issue became a galvenizing force for the North to attack the more rural and agricultural south. There were still slaves in the North during this conflict so it was not just riteous indignation that spawned the liberation of the blacks.\n\nAfter the war, many blacks continued to work on the farms where they had worked their whole lives. Life was much more difficult then and it has only been in the last 100 years or so that most of our population lives in cities.\n\nAfter the war, it took all of us time to heal. Blacks, Southerners, Northerners, etc. Blacks still helped rebuild the South after the war.\n\nNow, we have a huge population that lives in cities. As a whole, I cannot definitively say that blacks are equal to the other races in productivity. Many of their decendents were brought here for their physical attributes and they have been surpressed after the war as well.\n\nI think that we are now at a cross roads. Blacks, as a race, probably have more rights than whites but have not been allowed to complete a transition that can take decades.\n\nI think most people would appreciate it if you would learn more about history and not feel so cormfortable sitting at your computer and spreading racism. You are being more lazy and hateful than those you attack.\n\nUndoubtedly, your stupid comments have hurt and alienated a good many people of all nationalities. So start using Yahoo for something productive because right now, I think America's economy would be much better off without people like you, no matter what race you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
417662
Yeah I know.  Our ancestors are a bunch of bitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  At least I have a little Indian blood to erase some of the guilt.  \nTo be on more of a serious note.  The population has to be regulated to some extent.  Its already hard to get a job as it is.  Coming from a small town years ago there was a outbreak of Latinos/Mexicans.  Alot of them were illegal.  They took the farming jobs and well just say everything broke loose.  Locals in the area had to attempt to find work and those that didn't had to dip into the government programs.  Its just a huge chain reaction.  Kinda self explanatory if you think hard enough about it.
251304
:}\ngrace over law\nsalvation over destruction
436482
The government claims equality for it's people but very very old habits won't die away so quickly.  Look at the US, there is still some residue of segregation.
323769
The U.S. was one, a newly discovered continent.  It was a grand adventure.  Also, the newly formed government was a grand experiment.  Never before had a government been formed on the theory of democracy in such a large scale.  It afforded freedoms almost unheard of around the world.  Freedoms like, no matter what economic status you came from, you could make yourself better in America.   And, no matter what status you were born to, whether a prince or a pauper, you could succeed in America.  The struggles over racism weren't only over blacks, but included Irish, and Italians, and Asians.  Even with these racial struggles the opportunities afforded every individual were far better than most folks could find in their home countries.
866610
Judgement and condemnation are the American way.\n\nIf there is anything that is consistent in American history it is hate.
48584
The State legislature set limits on all laws that the Federal Government has no right, Constitutionally speaking, to pass.  Since ALL the states are different you get differing laws in all things.  Discrimination is just one of many areas.
306610
Yeah...this power struggle thing really gets to me too...Unfortunately we as a species have not yet reached a higher conciseness...although some of us are well on our way(including you by the sound of things) and struggle over this territory or that one has been going on since man kind stopped nomadic migration and started up with agriculture and ,,,this plot of land belongs to me and that plot of land belongs to you,...until we find a way to rise above this as a species, I do not see any real hope of improvement!