Social Justice Movement Essay Example

Not too long ago, equality was merely a hopeful wish rather than fact, and people prayed for the day that their race would experience equal treatment that first-class citizens of America had. Since the time of World War II, social justice movements were prevalent all around the nation to help secure a land where every person regardless of color had equal human rights. Throughout this time of unrest, each race had experiences that showed the gradual changes filled with strife, suffering, and struggle that they put up with in hopes that the future would allow their race to stand tall and be truly equal. Regardless of what race one was, each experienced similar experiences with racial inequality such as with their goals and the challenges they faced.

To begin with, one of the biggest goals that a human being tends to desire is for a better future. For instance, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer stated that she had ‘traveled twenty-six miles to the county courthouse in Indianola to try to register to become first-class citizens’ (Document C). The difference between second-class and first-class may seem like a small difference but a first-class citizen meant that they had the right to fair treatment as they were a citizen of America. Even so, when Mrs. Hamer returned to their residence, she was told to ‘go down and withdraw’(Document C) their first-class citizenship and even if she did, she would still have to leave because Mississippi was not ready for the change. Though this was a hard predicament they had faced, they persisted with their initial decision to become first-class and were hence kicked out. Furthermore, as stated by Amy Uyematsu, ‘by being as inconspicuous as possible, (Asian Americans) keep pressure off of themselves at the expense of the blacks’ (Document D). In the past, Asian Americans experienced severe discrimination, and without any form of rebuttal or successful trial, many of them kept to themselves and remain silent and received the ‘“silent Oriental” stereotype’ (Document D). To them, this would equate to striving toward a future as their silence allowed them to not be the focus of attention like the blacks were. 

In addition, it cannot be denied that one of the challenges that people of races other than white was that they suffered regardless of what actions they had done. For example, Cesar Chavez stated that ‘people of my color were denied the right to see a movie or eat at a restaurant’ (Document F) and Amy Uyematsu mentioned that ‘racist treatment of “yellows” still existed during World War II, with the unjustifiable internment of 110,000 Japanese into detention camps’ (Document D). For both of these cases, each side experienced injustice purely because their color of skin was simply different. Even though the world was gradually changing toward one where people accepted people of other color, a good portion of people did not feel the same way and discriminated against others for no other reason than the fact that they were different in appearance. Moreover, another challenge that people of color experienced was in regards to one’s education. One thing that every family wanted their child to experience was a good education so they could get a good job and not suffer the same trials they had to face. Because of this, segregation itself was a big problem and as depicted by ‘Inch by Inch’, the door to being free from school segregation happened at a slow pace (Document A). Even with schools that did not have segregation, people of color experienced harsh treatment from fellow peers, and those who interacted with them experienced similar injustice, as depicted in (Document B). In these cases, it is clear that the main reason that they were persecuted was not for any personal vendetta but solely because of skin color. 

In conclusion, people, regardless of race, experienced trials and challenges during the time where the social justice movements were occurring. Though many people wanted to experience fair treatment, just as many people wanted the status quo to remain the same and resisted any attempts for people to experience fair treatment. Nevertheless, each race faced challenges and experienced pain so that they could fight for their goals and live for the future.