Douglass, Dr. King And Ta-nehisi Coates History Case (Case Study Sample)

Douglass, Dr. King and Ta-Nehisi Coates
Name
Institution
Douglass, Dr. King and Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dr. Martin Luther king abhorred the segregation and the lack of equal treatment for blacks which resulted in lack of access to basic economic needs. Writing from Birmingham City jail, Dr. Martin Luther King calls for fair treatment of blacks in America (Oppenheimer, 1992, p. 26). He championed for economic empowerment of the black community so that they can have same opportunities like their white counterparts. He stated that "all segregation laws are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality." According to him, segregation did more damage to blacks than just the physical pain they went through. He observed that segregation did a lot of damage to the self-esteem of the blacks by being made to feel worthless and inferior (Garrow, 1987, p.12). Dr. King saw segregation as a gross violation of the rights of the black people.
The kind of segregation that Dr. Martin Luther king junior was against that can be included in this law suit includes the following:
* Laws outlawing marriage between black and white people which was widely practiced in Georgia. The law at that time considered such a marriage null and void.
* The other kind of segregation that would appear in the lawsuit would be the appeal against the establishment of separate schools for blacks and whites. A good example was in Missouri where it was a crime for a black child to attend white school and vice versa.
* Dr. King also fought about the lack of equal treatment of blacks in matters of healthcare. During this period, it was unlawful for blacks to use the same healthcare facilities as the white population. In some cases, blacks were denied treatment at most facilities.
* The biggest chunk of this lawsuit would touch on slavery itself. Dr. King fought valiantly for the abolition of slavery which he described as inhumane and a backward practice. The lawsuit would seek damages relating to loss of life resulting from the practice of slavery as well as pointing other social injustices of the practice such as forced labor and forced separation of families.
To date, the numbers of lawsuits touching on reparation in America his hit the roof. One of these cases is the case for reparation by Ta-Nehisi Coates. He states that “two hundred and fifty years of slavery, ninety years of Jim Crow, sixty years of separate but equal and thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole” (Coates, 2015, p. 66). Ta-Nehisi, unlike Dr. King is more concerned about economic injustices meted on the blacks. An example is given of black family (the Ross family), which was relatively wealthy, owning about 40 Acre tract of land in which he had cows, horses and other farm animals, he also was a farmer. Clyde Ross’s father was illiterate and the state connived to rob him succesfully of his property citing a backdated tax of $ 3,000 dollars which he could pay and all his property was seized in effect reducing the family to being sharecroppers. This is just one of the many examples of black people being robbed of their properties in broad day light. Worse still is the fact that all state organs participated in these kinds of robberies, from the police to the judicial system thus leaving the blacks with no means of redress. As Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it, “The state's regime partnered robbery of the franchise with robbery of the purse. Many of Mississippi's black farmers lived in debt peonage, under the sway of cotton kings who were at once their landlords, their employers, and their primary merchants” (Coates, 2015, p. 66). The lawsuit for reparation by Ta-Nehisi Coates would point out the both the robbery of the ‘purse’ as well as robbery of the vote where blacks.
The reparation case could also use the three part investigative series or report on 406 victims that was published by the Associated Press in 2001 in their investigations on the theft of black-owned land dating back to the antebellum period which found out that about 24,000 acres of land costing tens of millions of dollars in Mississippi alone had been taken away from the blacks. The land was taken from the blacks through various means ranging from “legal chicanery to pure terrorism” (Coates, 2015, p. 66). The other element of injustice that could be incorporated in the case is that of home ownership. From 1930s through to 1960s, black people were cut off or prevented from home ownership by being denied legitimate home-mortgage. This is illustrated by Clyde Ross’s case as one of the many examples. In 1947, Clyde Ross moved to Chicago. In 1961, he and his wife bought a house in the bustling neighborhood of North Lawndale. With time, he tried to get a legitimate mortgage on his home but was denied. At the time, mortgage was not available to black people (Coates, 2015, p. 66). In fact, housing for black people was one of the areas where great injustices occurred which calls for reparation. Some municipalities and states have passed statutes addressing the issue of reparations for African-Americans such as Rosewood in California as well as states such as Oklahoma and Chicago.
On his part, Fredrick felt that education among Africans would help them to achieve some degree of equality with the white people. He felt that educated Africans would help to champion the fight for equality and freedom for black people. Douglass contends that equality rests with fair treatment in all things among them education (Horton, 2006, p. 147). He felt that blacks should get the same education that the white people were getting and that there should not be any segregation in schools and institutions of learning. All these three men, Dr. Martin Luther, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Fredrick Douglass ...