Fade the Butcher
04-05-2006, 01:57 PM
"The Hilton Hotel incident crystallizes the thrust of this book. It summarizes the three major themes that run through the entire project: civil rights leaders' strategy to mobolize international attention and pressure; international pressure exerted on the Executive branch to reform race policy; and the Executive branch's reaction to outside pressure. As we have seen in Chapter Two, although the civil rights struggle had an international dimension from at least the early 1800s, it was not until World War II that the strategy of reaching out bore fruit. The racist ideology of and subsequent genocide practiced by the Third Reich discredited racial discrimination in international politics as never before. The rationalization of racial oppression expressed in the United States and the racist ideology displayed in the South led civil rights advocates at home and abroad to compare racism in the United States to Hitlerism in Nazi Germany. These activists were able to point out the hypocrisy involved in fighting a world war against an enemy who preached a master race ideology, while supporting racial segregation and ideas of white supremacy at home."
Azza Layton, International Politics and Civil Rights Policies in the United States, 1941-1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p.142-243
"America's participation in World War II and the allies' victory in 1945 changed the social context within the United States. Victory symbolized equality and democracy and the defeat of racism. Victory constrained the subsequent social rhetoric of the victors. Allied powers "which incorporated racist dogma in their own legal codes and social structures, were impeleld to proclaim their opposition to racism" in every form. The horrific discrimination against the Jewish people in Nazi Germany put an end to previously accepted theories of scientific racism. Moreover, it paved the way for the African and Asian struggle against colonialism and for equality African Americans were no exception. In particular, the United States' leadership in World War II, and its ideological emphasis on freedom and equality, forced the United States' own discriminatory practices under a microscope."
Layton., pp.32-33
"Why did the Executive branch of the federal government, in 1946, place civil rights reforms at the top of its domestic policy agenda? Why in the midst of an era marked by civil rights violations and colored by rivarly with the Soviet Union and a national phobia concerning domestic Communism that were used to justify repression at home against unions, universities, business, and even government sectors do we see improvements and a push by the Executive and Judicial branches for civl rights reforms for African-Americans? Why did the efforts of civil rights groups produce few advancements under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's liberal progressive administration, yet we see groundbreaking initiatives in civil rights sponsered by President Harry S. Truman's administration? What was the critical motivating factor behind the speedy and comprehensive intervention by the Executive branch in an area historically and traditionally reserved for state and local politics?"
Layton, p.2
Azza Layton, International Politics and Civil Rights Policies in the United States, 1941-1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p.142-243
"America's participation in World War II and the allies' victory in 1945 changed the social context within the United States. Victory symbolized equality and democracy and the defeat of racism. Victory constrained the subsequent social rhetoric of the victors. Allied powers "which incorporated racist dogma in their own legal codes and social structures, were impeleld to proclaim their opposition to racism" in every form. The horrific discrimination against the Jewish people in Nazi Germany put an end to previously accepted theories of scientific racism. Moreover, it paved the way for the African and Asian struggle against colonialism and for equality African Americans were no exception. In particular, the United States' leadership in World War II, and its ideological emphasis on freedom and equality, forced the United States' own discriminatory practices under a microscope."
Layton., pp.32-33
"Why did the Executive branch of the federal government, in 1946, place civil rights reforms at the top of its domestic policy agenda? Why in the midst of an era marked by civil rights violations and colored by rivarly with the Soviet Union and a national phobia concerning domestic Communism that were used to justify repression at home against unions, universities, business, and even government sectors do we see improvements and a push by the Executive and Judicial branches for civl rights reforms for African-Americans? Why did the efforts of civil rights groups produce few advancements under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's liberal progressive administration, yet we see groundbreaking initiatives in civil rights sponsered by President Harry S. Truman's administration? What was the critical motivating factor behind the speedy and comprehensive intervention by the Executive branch in an area historically and traditionally reserved for state and local politics?"
Layton, p.2