Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Blog #10

Reconstruction is the era that took place for a few years after the Civil War. It is essentially what it is called - the Reconstruction. The South had been destroyed - both literally and figuratively. Buildings had to be rebuilt, government had to be reformed, and new constitutional laws had to be formed so that the Civil War wouldn't happen again. The good news is that buildings were rebuilt and we got amendments to the constitution to protect the rights of black people. But... that's about it. Leaders in the Reconstruction were anything but fit for the job, the South held a rather large grudge against the North for everything, Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws were popping up everywhere (separate but equal), the KKK was formed in that time, the Democrats of that time were basically doing whatever they wanted to, and this was pushed even further when the Republicans of that time were willing to do anything just to get Republican people in office to try and get things done. It is relevant today because people from that time managed to work their way into governmental positions, and even though they died, their ideals still live on in today's day and age - for instance, hate for people based on their race or color. In that sense, people from that part of the country might not realize that they're racist when they really are.

The Reconstruction is evident in modern society, as proved in the following article:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/09/28/let_549745.shtml
"And he is certainly not alone among his liberal colleagues in voicing that opinion: Conservatives are protesting Obama's policies; Obama is black; therefore, conservatives must be protesting Obama's policies because he is black."
The fact that people are automatically linking to this sort of thing simply proves the preconceived notion that a white man criticizing a black man's policies is racism. Any time a conflict arises between black man and white man, it seems that the obvious cause is racism and not personality, or actual policies. This is because of the historic factor of the way black and white people have treated each other, and because of the personality and attitude that each issue constantly receives.

No comments:

Post a Comment