Focus Task- Optimistic and Pessimistic Civil Rights View

(sorry I saved it as a draft and never posted it)

1. African Americans were able to vote

- Optimistic view: African Americans could register and vote for any sort of election since the beginning of the century.

- Pessimistic view: Because of threats, even to the extent of violence, most if not all African Americans feared voting, which lead to only about 5% of African Americans in Mississippi to be registered.

2. African Americans could have jobs/employment.

- Optimistic view: Now that slavery was over in the South, African Americans could hold jobs, including teaching at schools.

- Negative view: There was still much discrimination in the work place, either with hiring workers, or in salary/wage. White teachers in the South earned 30% more than African American teachers.

3. Segregation of schools

- Optimistic view: If African American children and white children were to go to different schools, then there would be less danger for African Americas, and less discrimination.

- Pessimistic view: No matter how 'equal' the government tries to make segregated schools equal, they cannot be equal if they are separate.

4. Integration of schools

- Optimistic view: African Americans now had the same opportunity as white children for learning. When schools were segregated, schools for African Americans were less taken after and given less attention. Bringing African American children into white schools gave them the same opportunity.

- Pessimistic view: African American children were always in constant danger of harassment. In the example of the Little Rock Nine, nine African Americans were to be moved from a far away school for only African Americans to an integrated school. First, the principal of the school refused to allow them to attend the school because of the 'hazard to their safety', as he had claimed, but once President Eisenhower sent official troops to escort the African American children back, the principal allowed them to.

Japanese-American Internment Camps Article

If I were to write an article which point was to be controversial and cause a stir amongst American people, I would make sure to emphasize on the fact that the Japanese-American internment camps was the most civil rights violating action made on American soil. German-American people had as much as the same doubt to be sent to internment camps, but were not because it was easier to visually identify Japanese-Americans rather than German-Americans. Although Japan had attacked the US at Pearl Harbor, Germany had a much stronger effect on the world by leading the Holocaust which killed over 6 million Jews, gypsies, African Americans, and other minorities. The Germans were much more of a threat to the world than Japan was. Although Japan had attacked and destroyed more that half of America's naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, the strides of the steps that they were taking in the war were much smaller than Germany.

I would definitely would not publish this article because it would not only cause for more public attention, but it could be taken out of context and contorted to make it seem worse than actually is written. Propaganda could form from it, which would only cause further problems. I would not publish this article because it would divide the American people based on their opinions, and that would be the worst thing to do, especially in the time of war. During the war period, it is important for the people of the country to come together and unify as one, and to publish this article would cause people to rift apart based on their opinions. The United States of America should stay united, in or out of war.