Wednesday Assignment 2

The movement that I am choosing for this assignment is the civil rights movement. I feel that the civil rights movement especially during this time can be very inclusive. It would include people with a broad range of intersectional ties. I feel that this movement had a strong collective identity because everyone knew that they wanted to accomplish the same goals. Everyone shared the collective identity of wanting to be treated as equals. I say that people with a variety of intersectionalities would be a part of this movement because not only black people were being oppressed and deemed inferior. People from different races, gender, and sexual preference share the same feeling of inferiority. All of these groups of people have their own distinct intersectionailties. Women also have them such as their gender, race, sexuality, class, and political affiliations to name a few. Everyone has their own intersectional some may be favorable and some may work against them. For example a man who is white and comes from a high social class has favorable intersectionalities that will benefit him. On the other hand, a man who is black and poor will face difficulties.
I believe that the civil rights movement in 2009 would consist of various icons, not only African Americans but also Latinos, Women, Gays and lesbians. It would consist of people of all races, gender, sexual preferences, and social class. People of all ages would be involved I think the younger population would have a large participation in this movement. I cannot say that there would be one specific iconic face for this movement in 2009 like there was back in the 60’s when Martin Luther King was the iconic figure of the civil rights movement. I believe that in this day and age people are aware that segregation and the racism that went on towards people that were non white was wrong.
Racism is still something that we have yet to resolve. I feel that we have come a long way from what it used to be but people are still being oppressed today. Immigrants are being marginalized and oppressed which led to the current immigration movement that is now going on. I believe that the women’s movement can be difficult because all women are not the same. Each woman has her own identity and different experiences and backgrounds will shape a woman’s point of view and perspectives differently. All women share different intersectionalities which contribute to what a woman believes in.
I believe that this was part of the issue with the equal rights amendment that Young talked about in her article. The Mormon women were shaped to have different beliefs about gender roles. To these women the ERA movement was deemed as evil because it was going against their beliefs. This is a set back for this movement because not only do Mormon women oppose it but also who brought up with traditional conservative beliefs about gender roles. This is the reason why we cannot group all women together into one because they are distinct in their own way. I believe that having an iconic figure such as Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement in the 60’s can be beneficial because people will always look up to a leader. I believe that it makes people feel like their movement has more power if they have some sort of leadership especially when it is a leader that many look up to.
Some pitfalls of this may be that not everyone may come to an agreement on certain aspects of the strategies such as Kings peaceful plans. Some simply did not agree with his peaceful direct action strategies which led to disagreement and hostility within the group. I believe that if Claudette Colvin would have been the iconic person of the Montgomery Bus Boycott I really do not think the civil rights movement would have changed much. I believe this because the final goal was the same exact as Rosa parks intent. The only difference is that Claudette Colvin was of a lower class status and also pregnant as opposed to Rosa Parks who was more educated and not pregnant. By having Claudette Colvin as the iconic figure of the bus boycott people might have been a bit more reluctant to pay attention to the movement because of Claudette’s status. All in all the civil rights movement I feel would not have changed much because both Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks were in search of equality and civil rights.