Coup de Grace: The civil rights movement still matters
News Editor Grace Mottley attempts to end deteriorating institutions and ideas of our society through a Coup de Grâce, a “decisive blow or finishing act,” as she questions the culture we live in. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, so what better way to change society than writing about it.
Dec. 1 marked the 60th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat. On the same day, protesters marched in the streets of Chicago, objecting to the actions of a white police officer who shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times in the back.
The civil rights movement still matters, and everyone has a role in bringing about the dream that activists like Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for.
Their work wasn’t for nothing. Times have changed, and the rights movement succeeded in many areas, including ending segregation and ensuring voting rights for African-Americans. Today’s civil rights movement may look different and face different challenges than it did 60 years ago, but it has the same goal: equality for all.
However, the movement today deals with the same core issues as it did 60 years ago. Systemized racism and injustice still exist.
According to Time Magazine, a young African-American man is 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by a police officer than a young white man. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, an African-American man born in 2001 has a 32 percent chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while his white counterpart has only a six percent chance.
Sometimes we turn a blind eye to discrimination because it’s easier to ignore it. But if we want to live in a more just world, I suggest doing something.
If Rosa Parks hadn’t battled against injustice, we wouldn’t live in the same America we do today. If no one stands up today to fight discrimination and injustice, who knows what kind of place the world will be in 60 years?
If you want to help, go to www.NAACP.org, for example, and see what you can do. Sign a petition. Donate a few dollars. Or if you’re looking for a simpler way to help, speak up against discrimination.
But whenever a movement like Black Lives Matter or a group of concerned citizens stands up against systemized racism, they are continuing the work of the movement, and they are continuing to fight for equal rights.
So if you only think of the civil rights movement as history, look at the events happening all around the U.S. 60 years after the start of the civil rights movement, the fight for equal rights is still going strong, and the civil rights movement still matters.
Grace Mottley is a News Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.
