PART I: CRITICAL DISCUSSION OF A MIGHTY LONG WAY

QUESTION (10 PTS)

Do the black people deserve the same respect and services as the whites?

DISCUSSION (40PTS)

The United States government had set up schools in which the Black-American were highly discriminated. The blacks had to form a movement to present their grievance. Therefore, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) came into existence. It fought against desegregation of black people (Lanier & Page, Pg xii-xiii).  The Government had enacted the Jim Crow which made the blacks appear like second class citizens. The law also established the whites as superior to the black and thus deserved special treatment. The party won the Brown v. Board of Education case. The ruling of the United States Supreme Court to allow blacks and whites to study in the same environment was met by various objections (Lanier & Page, Pg 56 & 57). Amazingly even the clergy was against the integration of the two races in the same school.  The government would ensure that the children were safe, but discrimination persisted (Lanier & Page, Pg xii-xiii). The protection offered by the government was later discovered was a plot for fostering segregation. The then governor, Faubus was determined to ensure the integration never happened (Lanier & Page, Pg. 78). He even closed the schools temporarily so as the administration would find a solution. The days which ensued made the children stay at home fearing for their lives. After the case was solved and integration upheld, discrimination never ceased. The teachers failed to prevent the bullying implying they facilitated it. The black children could be nicknamed Negro and advised to return to Africa (p. 103). The white children would even beat the blacks as they teased them. However, during slavery, the blacks were neither allowed to go and learn nor were they allowed to be seen reading. The case then seemed different, but the discrimination had not ceased. The memory of Little Rock schools was enough to make someone weep due to the hatred that was meted on the black children. The government later concealed the tragedies by naming the school; America’s Most Beautiful school. The colored were not only mistreated in the schools but also in the Justice Department. Carlotta’s father was inhumanly absconded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation offices and held captive for more than two days. The reasons for arresting him were based on a mysterious bomb which had exploded in Carlotta’s home (Lanier & Page, Pg xii-xiii). After that, her father lost one job after another mainly because he was black. Moreover, her friend Herbert was unfairly judged in response to the same bombing and imprisoned for two years. The long walk signifies the journey the author took from childhood, marriage and the time she started campaigning for the rights of black citizens. The route encompassed perseverance, dedication, and selflessness. The treatment that Carlotta endured in the school molded her to be a human rights activists.