The Negro Poverty and the Economic Gap

In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson made a speech at Howard University in which he addresses the growing economic gap between black and white Americans as well as the difference between “Negro poverty and white poverty.”

Johnson discusses how many factors contributed to the economic gap. First, he discusses how inadequate freedom has broken down very big barriers but is still not enough to close the gap. “Freedom is the right to share, share fully and equally, in American society—to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school...But freedom is not enough.” Giving these rights to people who do not typically have them is not solving the problem. And adding racial prejudices and discriminations on top of it really doesn’t help at all. Although it is a huge step for the Negro population to have access to these rights, it still doesn’t do all it can to improve the state of the community. It’s more a case about having the opportunity to act on these rights and changing society. Opportunities need to be made for the Negro population in order to see the economic gap start to close.

Another factor Johnson points out is how the closing of the economic gap is not one simply based on poverty. Negro poverty has many causes that will have lasting effects. Negro poverty is the result of years and years of oppression and hatred. “For the Negro they are a constant reminder of oppression. For the white they are a constant reminder of guilt.” Unfortunately, Negro poverty has no real solution because history cannot be changed or forgotten for it is deeply rooted in American culture and society. However, despite this fact, there is one place that this poverty and dismay can begin to dissipate. .. the family.

According to Johnson, “the family is the cornerstone f society.” The family structure is the most influential force in any child and individual’s life. Your family shapes your values, your point of view, and futuristic goals. If we start to treat and defeat poverty in the home, than it will gradually start to narrow the economic gap. Once the Negro family structure is reinforced and fortified, than the other factors contributing to economic gap will begin to change and improve.

The cartoon by Barry Deutsch relates highly to Johnson’s concept that, “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.” You can give the Negro community all the freedom in the world but if you don’t do anything to reinforce that principle than freedom will never be truly free. The concept of white America’s freedom towards the Negro community is basically that, “we’ve given you the rights now do something with them on your own.” Of course, this ideal backfires. This concept is the same thing as giving an army pilot a French cook book and say, “make a four course meal on your own.” Freedom must be reinforced with effort from all members of a society to make change for the greater good.

The Cheerful Robots of the 1950's

During the 1950’s, Americans were going through a lot of changes. Many of the changes had to do with lifestyle and economy. In essence, the “American Dream” was being realized once again only this time, it had more advertising, money, and conformity put in to it. Society was being molded and shaped by the idea of what freedom is. Unfortunately that idea was terribly wrong.

Towards the closing of the Cold War, Americans began attacking each other once again calling anything that wasn’t consider “normal” or “American” was unpatriotic. Fear is brought out of all this commotion and from this fear of being called un-American or unpatriotic; a person would do almost anything to be as far away from that image as possible. Thus, this would be an excellent time for the “image of freedom” to take hold.

Almost instantly, the U.S. is shown the wonders of suburbia. Houses lined up, one next to each other; the “perfect family” of a father, mother, and their 2.4 children. Americans were fed this idea that freedom was the result from having a family and a perfect suburban home along with a great paying job in the booming economy. Instead, all Americans were doing was basically conforming to an idea brought out of their own fear of being isolated from society. Americans would rather become “cheerful robots,” according to C. Wright Mills, than be their own people their own perception of what freedom is. The 1950’s demonstrates how out of fear and doubt, ignorance and conformity succeeds.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the U.S.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was assembled after World War II had ended. Many individuals felt there was a need to address human rights issues since they were countlessly abused. The declaration was drafted by a committee formed by Eleanor Roosevelt. It outlined a long list of basic human rights that are bestowed upon everyone regardless of race, gender, religion, nationality, and political point of view. Unfortunately, the United States was not so quick in ratifying it. How could they ratify a document that preserves human rights to everyone when they did not do so in their own home?

There are several policies outlined in the declaration that conflicted with U.S. practices.

In the declaration, in article 7, it state that, “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.” In the U.S., many nationalities and races are discriminated against such as minorities and immigrants. For example, a black person would never be able to testify against a white person.

In article 10, it states, “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge.” In any case, especially with minorities, only white people were served jury duty. In essence, if a black man was on trial he would most likely go to jail because he was not given a jury that was impartial. Also, the U.S. wouldn’t let minorities serve on juries so there would never be an impartial and fair jury.

In article 16, it states, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.” This would very big problems in the U.S. since they did not allow races to intermarry. The issue comes in when in the case that if a black man and white woman were to marry, who would have more rights? They wouldn’t let the man have more rights because he’s black. Also, they wouldn’t let the woman have more rights because she’s a woman.

In article 23, it states, “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.” During the war, the U.S. needed a lot of people to contribute to the workforce. This resulted in many black people start working in the war industry. When time came that black workers and white workers were going to be working together, the white population were very angry. They were so angry that they resorted to violence which caused many blacks to not even consider going to work. This continued after the war and continued be a problem for a time.

In article 26, it states, “Everyone has the right to education. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” This one clearly creates some problems in the U.S. All schools were segregated. Black schools were not nearly as educationally adequate as white schools. Also, not many blacks had access to higher education programs such as colleges and universities.

The Declaration of Human Rights integrated many principles that are in the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, there were too many policies that the U.S. government was not ready to address just yet. It still needed to grow in its own way. Thankfully it did and we know live a better country than it was some 60 years ago.