The black community today is more educated and has access to equal opportunities making their lives better than the previous generations. These are vitals tools in helping to propel and support the civil rights movement cause of the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Moreover, today, the black community can use democratic means to bring the desired change by electing leaders with a definite plan to make their lives better and prevent a relapse of the past events. Civil rights movement of the mid-20th century fought for equality, equal access to education, housing, and health care. Currently, black neighborhoods still lag behind in terms of education, access to better housing and healthcare due to poverty. This are challenges that the black community can mobilize resources to bring to an end and advocate for laws aimed at addressing them.
G. I Bill was enacted to help veterans of the World War II. However, the G.I impacted the white and black communities differently. Only a small percentage of the black war veterans achieved full benefits of the G.I bill. The social climate after the Word War could not allow African-American soldiers to benefit to the same extends as their counterparts of European descent. For example, mortgage agencies and banks could not give loans to black veterans at that time. On the contrary, white veterans could get a mortgage and move to better neighborhoods.
More than 86 % of the white war veterans got referred to professional jobs while more than 92 % of the black war veterans got referred to menial jobs. As a result, the white war veterans attained the middle-class status rapidly while their black counterparts continued to impoverish in poverty. Moreover, the university admission systems had official and unofficial quota systems that made it hard for black war veterans to gain access to college education. For instance, in 1946, out of more than 100,000 blacks who had applied for admission, only one fifth got admission.
This meant that the black war veterans had to stick to lowly paid unprofessional jobs while their counterparts got professional jobs that paid decent salaries. As a result, the G.I disproportionately created opportunities for white soldiers that they still continue to enjoy today while their black counterparts wallow in poverty. However, it remains unclear whether civil rights movements should concentrate on history or means of handling the challenges facing the communities today.
References
Katznelson, Ira. When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. New York : W.W Norton , 2006.
Landau, Elaine. The Civil Rights Movement in America. New York : Scholastic Library Pub, 2007.
Walters, Ronald W. White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community. Detroit: Wayne University State Press , 2003.
