Civil Rights

There were many Americans who reacted to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in a positive way, after he died many people believed that his death shouldn’t be in vain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They felt that the only way to accomplish that was to support what he deeply believed in. What I think was really interesting was that before when he was still alive not many people believed in him and the few people that did believe in him were never heard until after his death. Honestly to me their support wasn’t genuine if they really supported the civil rights they would’ve believed from the beginning when King was still alive and fighting for his dream. I feel that the people who supported him after his death were sympathetic and wanted to see his dream come true even if he wouldn’t be alive to see it in person.

So many people were sending letters to President Johnson, urging him to take action to pass the civil rights bill. They were scared that if he didn’t act soon that the House of Representatives would reject the bill before it had a chance to make a difference. Many people believed in supporting the minorities because they saw that no one would help them. Most of the minorities were jobless, homeless and had no voice.  When King stepped up, he became the voice for so many people, because of his bravery he was respected and admired by many. Just like he was admired by many, he was hated by many people as well, these people were the ones that assassinated the King.

The first letters I read were supporting the Civil Rights movement, they mostly talked about how we should pass the bill because since most of the minorities were born in America they should have the same rights we have.

Like in the words of Mr. Haverstock “Tragic events of the past few days make it clear to all have eyes to see and ears to hear that all is not right in America. The tragedy of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination and the ensuing violence and destruction in our cities certainly must tell us that it is high time to move in the directions so ably pointed out to us in the report of the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders.”

 

Just like there were people supporting the Civil Rights Movement because of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. there were also people who were supporters even before his assassination. Rolfe J. Conrad specifies on his letter that “I am requesting this not as a momentary emotional response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, but rather because of the renewed awareness that this is the kind of thing which should have taken place some time ago.”

The people who were against the Civil Rights Bill were very blunt and harsh about their thoughts against the minorities, they didn’t want them to have any rights. They wanted the rights just for them and thought that if the President gave their rights to the minorities that he would be betraying the majority of the American citizens.

Overall the civi rights bill, changed the perspective of many people and how you don’t really realize thta there’s more than just your own needs in this world. We all share this world and it’s better to live it fairly.