The civil rights movement in America was a long ways coming, culimating in MLK, not starting. It is the main result of blacks being treated as second hand citizens ever since the end of the Civil War, where they were granted freedom but generally not prosperity and dropped into a state of poverty away from a free pursuit of happiness. This stems further back to the fact that at the founding of our nation, they were considered 3/5ths people.
We tend to forget that the Civil Rights movement wasn't just an "african-american" thing, it was
American. Whites stood up for their black brothers, and some were beatened, ridiculed, killed. Sisters of different races stood up for proper treatment, equal pay, and equality of the sexes. People stood together and marched against riot police, attack dogs, water cannons, marching forward onto Washington demanding justice and equality because they knew they were
right.Judges and lawyers put their livelihoods at stake despite death threats. Normal, everyday people who didn't know one another helped because they were fellow good Americans and human beings. It didn't happen overnight, nor was it easy. But it happened in an age without the internet, in a different era, where as an asian I wouldn't have the same opportunities that I have now.
The fight continues as long as injustice remains, just now it's moved to Gay rights. Groups that won their rights look at the Gays and wonder what's all the fuss. We forgot how hard we fought for them in the past. That's what it means to be American, part of our grand journey/experiment with democracy. We'll get it right one of these days.
"We appologise for the inconvenience"
EDIT: of course you guys rerail the thread as I post.
Fuck you all, I hate you and I'm going to marry my waifu in pokemon.