The Cold War and Civil Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Cold War and Civil Rights - Essay Example The treatment of African Americans in United States was seen as benefiting the Soviet Union which used the United States Civil Rights records to their advantage by â€Å"shamelessly distorting† the treatment of the minority groups. The aim of such propaganda by the Soviet Union President’s Commission on Civil Rights notes was â€Å"to create hostility towards us among specific nations, races and religious groups (235).† The leadership in the United States saw treatment of its minority races as presenting a negative picture of the country especially when it aimed at endearing the other countries in the world to its capitalism ideology. African Americans in the US began to demand a change of the way the minority races were treated given that the Soviet Union was using such treatment to claim the United States call for democracy was â€Å"an empty fraud† (Wilson 235). Therefore, in the 1940s, it became clear that for the US to claim to represent democratic pr inciples, it had to eradicate the discriminations against African Americans especially in the areas of employment voting and housing. The 1950s was a decisive period for the Civil Rights Movement given that it is the time many African Americans people won their antidiscrimination cases in the court. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the face of the civil rights movement with his call for peaceful demonstrations against racial discrimination. Although there were some violent protests against the discrimination of African Americans, the nonviolent movement under King Jr. Was more successful in the areas such as education and freedom to use other social amenities such as the transport system. Following the Montgomery incident where Rosa Parks refuse to surrender her seat to a white commuter, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the African American community in a one year Montgomery bus boycott. In his speech, King noted the reason for the gathering as due to the â€Å"love for democracy,â €  there was a need for end of racial discrimination against African Americans and King wanted to see â€Å"democracy transforms from thin paper to thick action.† The civil rights movements saw the Montgomery incidence as a catalyst for the African Americans to begin demanding for change. They were tired of the historical segregation policies that had denied them of their rights American citizens. It was now a time for the people to retaliate and assert themselves and â€Å"get the situation corrected† (Luther 263). The very fact that the rest of the world was watching the civil rights movement in US during the 1950s ensured the reaction of previously reluctant U.S. policymakers to the demands of the African American freedom movement. In alluding to the democratic principles of the American society, King was contrasting the constitutional rights of all the American citizens to the reality of what was being practiced. The US and her allies at the time wanted to sprea d their democratic ideology which had freedom as its important pillar. Civil right activists took advantage of such principles to bring to light the discrimination of African Americans so that they could force a change in the way African