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This can be attributed to historical and structural
injustices that affect mostly minorities; therefore, it is
convenient for the dominant culture to let it continue. This
has grave cyclic implications to the earnings and the
ability of the minorities to live to their capacity, as well
as for intergenerational poverty. This failure is a high
motivation for advocates such as Black Lives Matter (BLM).
The history of race in America is deeply rooted in the
fabric of the society, recalling the condition of black
people during slavery. The slaves were an economic resource
to the owners and giving up that resource was such a huge
risk that blood was shed to make it come to pass through the
Civil War.
The emancipation amendment of President Abraham
Lincoln in 1863 proclaimed slaves free. However, some states
of the union refused implementation. This abnormal situation
was to be corrected by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments,
called the Civil War or Reconstruction Amendments, enacted
between 1865 and 1870.
The vision was to integrate the free slaves into the
society by banning involuntary servitude unless decreed by
the state as a punishment. However, the various Jim Crow
laws, including the separate but equal rules sanctioned by
the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, was a
product of a lack of empathy and a lack of desire for
integration of all races.
The 1954 landmark decision of Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka, Kansas was a definite blow to the
hegemony of the dominant group. It made segregation in
schools illegal, marking the beginning of the reluctant
acceptance of people of color into former all-white schools.
The Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 by blacks that lasted 381
days started with the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her
seat on a bus in Montgomery. It was not an isolated case but
a high point in a period of resistance.
The Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s was a
transformative period for people of color. Various passive
and active, nonviolent methods led to a raising of awareness
among the general population of the plight of blacks and
other people of color. This became a national issue and
movement that resulted in some changes. This movement was
multiethnic and multicultural at all levels.
The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) was one of the leaders of the
movement. However, in the cause of history, there is always
a moment that changes the trajectory of events. The
phenomenon called BlackLivesMatters (BLM) is a product of
the failure of the multicultural movement including the
NAACP to continue the agitation.
The multicultural movement raised awareness of the
problems of black people, but that did not lead to increased
action to tackle the systemic and structural impediments
that sustain and prevent blacks from greater progress in the
society. It has not resulted in more social justice in the
society.
The emphasis of pointing out the systemic and
structural impediments to many black people seeking to reach
their full potential should lead to solving the problems and
making live better for blacks and people of color. The
reality is that it did not change the situation on the
ground; leading to the quest for new initiatives, which BLM
is striving to fill. Will it succeed?
BLM strives to portray that certain lives are more
valued in American society than others. The minimum is the
freedom and liberty to be who blacks want and cherish to be.
The use of brutal force at the least provocation
against people of color was born out of the perception that
a particular group is a threat and their lives do not
matter. This narrative might seem reasonable because society
is gradually conditioned to see it that way. However, it is
not the way it should be.
Before the rise of BLM, there was the multicultural
movement, but with the success of the civil rights era, the
momentum of the multicultural group started reducing.
There was confusion within the field as Christine
Sleeter, college professor and education reformer, stated
that most of the advocates of multiculturalism do not agree
on the same sets of issues nor do they agree on the same
practice for issues on which they happen to agree.
There are many reasons for this situation in the field
including links to diversity, diversity of approach, to the
subject matter and the effect of the ‘single study group’
like black studies, women studies, Gay and Lesbian Studies,
etc.
There is also the question of advocates who address
multiple issues at the same time; these many supporters do
not always agree. The expectation that multicultural
education will solve all problems led to the amalgamation of
different fields, ideas, and concepts, leading to what
Gloria Ladson-Billings and William Tate called a ‘unity of
difference,’ in their book Education Research in the
Public Interest: Social Justice, Action, and Policy.
The nonalignment of the various groups is a
contributing factor to the present situation of the
multicultural movement that made BLM possible. Christine
Sleeter claims that multicultural education was initially
part of the social movement but lost steam and was
subsequently hijacked by conservative elements and as a
result the focus changed from group empowerment to
individual advancement.
The political system is not open to movements but,
rather, controlled by the elite and wealthy who do not allow
social movements to rock the boat. With the transition in
the leadership of the multicultural education in the 1980s
and the increased diversity in social class, more European
Americans took ownership of the movement and directed it
from its activist past to a more accommodating phase of
cultural accommodation through celebrating diversity and
folklore.
It becomes an aid to teaching diversity. It is this
same group that is afraid and scared of BLM. I contend that
the multicultural movement has lost its bearing by being a
‘jack of trade’ and master of none. The victims of this
situation were people of color.
The BLM is striving to change this narrative by
bringing to national discourse the plight of blacks and
people of color. It is reshaping the society by actively
confronting and shaking up the system.
Therefore, BLM is the continuation of the civil rights
movement era of the 1950s and 1960’s! They are only
continuing where the struggled stopped. What should they do,
will form the concluding part of this three-part essay!
Colins Imoh is a doctoral scholar at the Department of
Educational Foundations & Leadership at the University of
Toledo. He can be reached on
imohcolins@gmail.com.
His area of interest is multicultural movement, diversity
and peace. He believes that if people work together in
solidarity, there will be a more peaceful world.
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