Minority segments of the population in the United States, like African Americans and Latino Americans, faced inequalities that led them to form movements to struggle for their civil rights. Latino Americans began the Chicano Equality movement, whereas African Americans had the Black Panther Party. Hence, the two movements from different segments of the minority population had commonalities, like the emphasis on economic reforms, and also faced unique challenges in their struggle for civil rights. Further, there are agendas such as means of integration that continue to make coalition forming both within and between different civil rights movements difficult (levy, 2019).
Economic control is common in the political rhetoric and tactic of both civil rights movements from the two minority groups of African America and Latino America. Latino Americans In their El Plan De Aztlan believe that economic control of the Latino communities can only be achieved through chasing away the White Americans who they believe exploit them (Muñoz, 2018). Further, the Latino Americans’ tactics advocate for a self-determined, Independent Latino economy.
Similarly, in their What We Believe, What We Want slogan, African Americans believe they are not free until they can self-determine their destiny (Clayton, 2018). In addition, African Americans advocate for taking the means of production from the business people and placing it under community control (Clayton, 2018). The African Americans believe that the means of production under the power of the community will enable the community to offer employment to all its members. Hence both groups’ political rhetoric and tactics advocate for emancipation from the economic control of White Americans.
In addition, both groups have a common view of an educational platform. In their political rhetoric and tactic, African Americans advocate for teaching education that describes their current role and history. Hence, African Americans support education that will define their history and identity as a people. Similarly, Latino Americans in their El Plan De Aztlan also advocate for an education platform that would describe their culture and history (Orozco, 2021). Therefore, both groups advocate for an education defining their societal contributions (Graham et al., 2020).
The language barrier is a unique challenge Latino Americans face in the United States. Most Latino Americans are not conversant with English; therefore, they miss out on opportunities such as education and career placement (Orozco, 2021). Therefore, there are few Latino American students in Higher education despite their population being on the rise (Jimenez-Padilla, 2022). Also, many Latino Americans only get menial jobs as the High-end jobs require language conversant and higher education, which the language barrier makes them miss.
On the other hand, African Americans face the unique challenge of targeted criminal profiling and incarceration. A high number of prisoners in American jails are African Americans (Manchanda & Ross dale, 2021). The African American population segment has been profiled as criminals; therefore, the law enforcers target the African American population members in their security checks. The Criminal profiling stereotype also psychologically affects African Americans and leads to many adopting gangs and crime as their culture (Musgrove, 2019).
Differing choices of means of integration have made coalitions difficult to form both within and between different rights movements. Within the Civil rights movement, younger people preferred radical means of integration, whereas older people mostly preferred nonviolent means (Bloom, 2019). Therefore, the different integration means make it difficult to form coalitions within the civil rights movement. Also, some civil rights movements prefer radical integration in their advocacy, whereas others prefer nonviolent integration (Bloom, 2019). Thus, the difference in the choice of integration methods of advocacy makes it difficult for the civil rights movement to form coalitions.
The Civil Rights movement was born out of the need for the minority segments of the population in the United States to fight for their civil rights. The Latino American community was particularly affected by the exploitation and discrimination faced by the White Americans, prompting them to form the Chicano Equality movement (Muñoz, 2018). The African Americans, on the other hand, formed the Black Panther Party to address their issues. Both movements had commonalities in their political rhetoric and tactics, such as their focus on economic reforms, and each faced unique challenges in their struggle for civil rights.
The commonalities between the two civil rights movements include the focus on economic control. Latino Americans wanted economic control of their communities by chasing away the White Americans they believed were exploiting them (Muñoz, 2018). On the other hand, African Americans believed they would not be truly free until they could self-determine their destiny. As such, they wanted to achieve economic control by taking the means of production from the business people and placing it under community control. In this way, they could offer employment to all community members.
The two civil rights movements also shared a common view on education. African Americans wanted an educational platform where their current role and history would be taught so that their history and identity as a people would be defined (Clayton, 2018). Similarly, the Latino Americans in the El Plan de Aztlan advocated for an education platform to describe their culture and history (Orozco, 2021). Therefore, both groups sought to define their societal contributions through education.
Despite the commonalities between the two civil rights movements, there were also unique challenges that each faced. One of the unique challenges faced by Latino Americans was the language barrier. Most Latino Americans were not conversant with English, causing them to miss out on opportunities such as education and career placements (Orozco, 2021). This resulted in few Latino Americans having access to higher education, despite their population is on the rise (Jimenez-Padilla, 2022). On the other hand, African Americans faced the unique challenge of targeted criminal profiling and incarceration. A high number of prisoners in American jails were African Americans (Manchanda & Rossdale, 2021). The African American population was profiled as criminals, leading to law enforcers targeting them in their security checks. This psychological effect on African Americans led some to adopt gangs and crime as their culture (Musgrove, 2019).
In brief, the Civil rights movement was formed due to the continued exploitation and discrimination of the minority segments of the American population by White Americans(Bloom, 2019). Therefore, these civil rights movements had commonalities in their political rhetoric and tactics as they advocated ending the same exploitation and discrimination issues. Further, the civil rights movements represent unique challenges that each segment of the minority population experienced. Lastly, the civil rights movement’s choice of integration means has contributed to their difficulty in forming coalitions between and within them.
References
Bloom, J. M. (2019). Class, race, and the civil rights movement. Indiana University Press.Clayton, D. M. (2018). Black lives matter and the civil rights movement: A comparative analysis of two social movements in the United States. Journal of Black Studies, 49(5), 448–480. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934718764099
Graham, A., Haner, M., Sloan, M. M., Cullen, F. T., Kulig, T. C., & Jonson, C. L. (2020). Race and worrying about police brutality: The hidden injuries of minority status in America. Victims & Offenders, 15(5), 549–573. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1767252
Jimenez-Padilla, O. (2022). Connected Struggles: Labor and the Chicano Movement in San Diego, CA 1965-1980.Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umt.edu/gsrc/2022/327/4/
Levy, P. B. (2019). The Civil Rights Movement: A Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO.
Manchanda, N., & Rossdale, C. (2021). Resisting racial militarism: War, policing and the Black Panther Party. Security Dialogue, 52(6), 473-492. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010621997220
Musgrove, G. D. (2019). “There Is No New Black Panther Party”: The Panther-Like Formations and the Black Power Resurgence of the 1990s. The Journal of African American History, 104(4), 619-656. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1086/705022
Muñoz, C. (2018). The Chicano Movement: Mexican American history and the struggle for equality. Perspectives on global development and technology, 17(1-2), pp. 31–52. Retrieved from https://brill.com/view/journals/pgdt/17/1-2/article-p31_31.xml
Orozco, C. E. (2021). The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, 1950–1963. In Agent of Change (pp. 68-81). University of Texas Press. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7560/319864-006
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