4 ms·

I think there's a lot of rose colored history about the civil rights movement. We're mostly taught one side of it in school - that good people protested and wo

I think there's a lot of rose colored history about the civil rights movement. We're mostly taught one side of it in school - that good people protested and won out over bad people. We don't, in general, talk about the horrible things that were happening back then. Only unlike a lot of racial problems today, they happened in plain sight and were celebrated. I know Rand Paul got a lot of hate for his recent speech against the legislation to make lynching a federal crime, but the things he talked about happening back when lynching was a frequent problem really opened my eyes to how bad things were. We don't talk about the fact that before MLK was assassinated, he was widely disliked by the american public. We don't talk about the fact that a lot of American gun control we still have was passed as a reaction to the civil rights movement - as a way to disarm minorities and weaken their ability to protest. I wasn't there, but I get the feeling we're still a long ways from things being as bad as they were during the 60's civil rights movement.

scruple 6y ago
Most people don't even know who Fred Hampton was. Even people who lived through the civil rights movement don't recall his name. My own parents downplay the violence of the 70s in favor of the rhetoric du jour that they're fed from mainstream media, and they lived in DC from 1972 until late in 1980 (and, all things considered, they are leftists, not liberals, which makes it even more astonishing to me). It's quite astounding just how fragile our memories are and how easily we can be (emotionally) manipulated. "Days of Rage" by Bryan Burrough is a good read on the subject (political violence in the late 60s and 70s). There's a good blog / semi-book review that I link people to when they seem intent on learning more of the history (which I originally got from a comment on HN during the 2016 election cycle) [0]. [0]: https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/ https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/
- ImaCake 6y ago
  This is fascinating to me. The more I see about America's protest history, the more it seems like the last 20 years have been abnormally calm and your normal state of affairs is more like the mood in 2020. A quote I liked from your linked article: >You have to understand: in 1968, many radicals absolutely believed that the United States was getting ready to collapse. One Weatherman puts it: “We actually believed there was going to be a revolution. We believed 3rd World countries would rise up and cause crises that would bring down the industrialized West, and we believed it was going to happen tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow, like 1976.”
  - scruple 6y ago
    > ...it seems like the last 20 years have been abnormally calm and your normal state of affairs is more like the mood in 2020. There are periods of calm and periods of dramatic unrest. The history of political activism / protests in America touches the civil rights movement, the worker rights / labor movements, etc..., and goes all the way back to the first taxes the newly formed United States federal government tried to levy against domestic goods (in the form of the Whiskey Rebellion [0]). The American revolution itself was the result of a series of protests that started with the Stamp Act of 1765 [1]. It is a truly fascinating history. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765
- smichel17 6y ago
  I didn't know who Fred Hampton was (I do now; this comment prompted me to read his Wikipedia article), but I did know his name, from Gil Scott-Heron's poem/song/rap, "No Knock".
- nl 6y ago
  And it's worth noting that through one lens the Manson killings were an act of political violence. His stated motivations (to start a race war[1]) were certainly political. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(scenario)#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(scenario)#Back...
TAForObvReasons 6y ago
The black panthers [1] emerged precisely because of police brutality and the lack of recourse / accountability. The difference this time is that the internet and cameras made it possible for people across the country to hear and see the stories up close. Suddenly the victims weren't random people in a far away land -- they had an identity, and watching their last moments makes the racial bias all too clear. History might not repeat itself, but it definitely does rhyme [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party#Founding_the_Black_Panther_Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party#Founding_t...

scruple 6y ago

Most people don't even know who Fred Hampton was. Even people who lived through the civil rights movement don't recall his name. My own parents downplay the violence of the 70s in favor of the rhetoric du jour that they're fed from mainstream media, and they lived in DC from 1972 until late in 1980 (and, all things considered, they are leftists, not liberals, which makes it even more astonishing to me). It's quite astounding just how fragile our memories are and how easily we can be (emotionally) manipulated. "Days of Rage" by Bryan Burrough is a good read on the subject (political violence in the late 60s and 70s). There's a good blog / semi-book review that I link people to when they seem intent on learning more of the history (which I originally got from a comment on HN during the 2016 election cycle) [0]. [0]: https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/ https://status451.com/2017/01/20/days-of-rage/

ImaCake 6y ago
This is fascinating to me. The more I see about America's protest history, the more it seems like the last 20 years have been abnormally calm and your normal state of affairs is more like the mood in 2020. A quote I liked from your linked article: >You have to understand: in 1968, many radicals absolutely believed that the United States was getting ready to collapse. One Weatherman puts it: “We actually believed there was going to be a revolution. We believed 3rd World countries would rise up and cause crises that would bring down the industrialized West, and we believed it was going to happen tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow, like 1976.”
- scruple 6y ago
  > ...it seems like the last 20 years have been abnormally calm and your normal state of affairs is more like the mood in 2020. There are periods of calm and periods of dramatic unrest. The history of political activism / protests in America touches the civil rights movement, the worker rights / labor movements, etc..., and goes all the way back to the first taxes the newly formed United States federal government tried to levy against domestic goods (in the form of the Whiskey Rebellion [0]). The American revolution itself was the result of a series of protests that started with the Stamp Act of 1765 [1]. It is a truly fascinating history. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765
smichel17 6y ago
I didn't know who Fred Hampton was (I do now; this comment prompted me to read his Wikipedia article), but I did know his name, from Gil Scott-Heron's poem/song/rap, "No Knock".
nl 6y ago
And it's worth noting that through one lens the Manson killings were an act of political violence. His stated motivations (to start a race war[1]) were certainly political. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(scenario)#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(scenario)#Back...

TAForObvReasons 6y ago

The black panthers [1] emerged precisely because of police brutality and the lack of recourse / accountability. The difference this time is that the internet and cameras made it possible for people across the country to hear and see the stories up close. Suddenly the victims weren't random people in a far away land -- they had an identity, and watching their last moments makes the racial bias all too clear. History might not repeat itself, but it definitely does rhyme [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party#Founding_the_Black_Panther_Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party#Founding_t...