Racism and Cold War (Essay Sample)

Name
Institution
Date
Racism Towards Black People in United States
Cold war is a term that is used to refer to a situation whereby countries are in a state of conflict, but the conflict to not involve directly military or rising up in arms against one another. However, the cold war is felt through political and economic actions, proxy wars and espionage waged by surrogates and propaganda. The surrogates are the nations that are under the warring nations. During the post-world war period, the communist countries were involved in a silent war of words, accusations and prejudice against the capitalist countries. The two major countries that were at the focal point of the world wars were the United States of America and the Russia, united Social Soviet Republic. These two nations had different economic ideologies, and each nation wanted to demean the ideology from the other country.[Chnm.gmu.edu,. 2014. 'Cold War Civil Rights - The Mason Historiographiki']
America was accused of its discrimination rules and policies of racial lines. The fact that America had the high cases of slaves and racial segregation was a condemnation from the communist countries to portray capitalism as man eats man ideology. On the other hand, Russia, a communist nation was ridiculed on the basis of Anti-Russian sentiment. The sentiment was negative feeling of fear, aversion, dislike and prejudice of Russia, its policy and culture. Stereotypes were developed during the cold war to ridicule a variety of mass Russian culture clichés, and the stereotypes were used for political war against the Soviet Union. Some of the prejudices used are still used today against individuals of Russian origin.[Belmonte, Laura. 2014. 'Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy(Review)'. Journal of Cold War Studies 4 (4): 108-110]
The height of racism during the cold war was occasioned during Nelson Mandela trial where he expressed feelings of the black person towards the capitalist and communist whites. Nelson Mandela was quoted saying that it was perhaps difficult for a white South Africans, with deep-rooted prejudice against communism, to get to know why experienced African activists accepted communists as their friends. But to them the reason was obvious. Theoretical difference among those who fought against oppression was a luxury to afford. What is more or many decades that the communists were the only political group who were ready to treat Africans as human beings and with equality. It was only communists who could eat with Africans, who could talk to Africans, who could live with Africans, and who could work with Africans. The communists were the only group of political individuals who could work together with Africans for achievement of political rights and a stake in the society.[LeTourneau, Nancy. 2013. 'Horizons: Racism And The Cold War'. Immasmartypants.Blogspot.Com]
The statement from Nelson Mandela paints a clear picture of the state of human rights, democracy and equality during the cold war. The capitalists, championed by the Americans were against the assumption of equal status with the blacks, Negroes, an as well as with whites from a different ideology. Racism was occasioned by the discrimination and oppression against the black American’s in the United States and the apartheid regime installed in South Africa by their British colonial masters. The white colonial masters had nothing to share with the people of the color. Racism on its own could not have gone that global and awareness could not have been that wide were it not for the cold war. The communists championed fight against the discrimination and oppression on racial races because they wanted to weaken the capitalists and make people rise against the capitalists. It gave a reason why they could offer material supports and relate well with their surrogates like Nelson Mandela to sell their communism ideology and weaken the capitalist ideology. Capitalist, on the other hand, formulated the Anti-Russian Sentiment to paint bad image on the communists. In the United States, the situation was no different like it was in South Africa. The was discrimination against the blacks a situation that escalated during the industrial revolution as Americans wanted to get free labor from blacks to speed up their economic growth.[Anthony, Hazard. Postwar Anti-Racism: The United States, UNESCO, and Race1944-1968. New York: Temple University, 2008.] [LeTourneau, Nancy. 2013. 'Horizons: Racism And The Cold War'. Immasmartypants.Blogspot.Com.]
The cold war came at a rejoinder for the people who were discriminated against by their masters. As the cold war worsened and the relations between the communists and the capitalist escalated, the communists could not relent on blowing whistles against the America barbaric discrimination policies. The criticism made the American government respond to this by addressing its human rights act to try to protect its image from the constant communist condemnation. The result was that laws and policies were formed that tried to bridge the racial gaps in the United States. Many black Americas human rights activist were given asylum in communists’ countries while others escaped to other countries like France.[Fredrickson, George M. 1995. Black Liberation. New York: Oxford University Press]
The frantic efforts by communist nations to paint bad image to America on discrimination and racism attracted attention from the American government. America had to find a balance between its domestic and foreign policies as the issue of racism in America attracted widespread international attention. Racial injustice in America did not only rest its case on the American democracy that was a global concern, it was also marked by racial violence and protest, segregation against blacks, economic and social inequalities and lynching. The outcry of the blacks in America elicited global outrage in European nations and countries in the third world, and it served to damage and weaken the image of America further. The racial accusation and paradigm in America gave America the enthusiasm to sharpen its propaganda machine against the Soviet republic. America did this to protect its image at the helm of the cold war to protect its ideology and demean communism as practiced by soviet republic. However, the international attention on racial injustice in America was embarrassing and troublesome, and they feared that communism would take over. The Americas thus found it necessary to promote social change at home to promote its international image.[Fredrickson, George M. 1995. Black Liberation. New York: Oxford University Press]
At the time the Americans were busy facing of the cold war competition against the communists, the communists were busy discouraging the racial segregation. It gave the black American a chance to protest against discrimination and civil strife in the United States was evident. Many civil and human rights activities were held in the American soil by the activists who lived in America. They were however not given an encouraging reception by the federal government, and many of them were forced to flee their country to other destinations like Paris where they could talk about and address racial segregation back home. The Americans, to hit back on communism growing global criticism of American policies, developed propaganda against the soviet republic, Anti-Russian Sentiment. The sentiment wanted to paint Russia as an agent of global unrest and sympathizer of peace threats, and this slogan was a major concern that curtailed the growth of communism in the world. The question of racism in America and the anti-Russian sentiment fuelled the cold war between the two ideological divides.[Lentz, Richard, and Karla K Gower. 2010. The Opinions Of Mankind. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010.]
The federal government was looking to control the American image that was projected overseas by presenting a narrative of American race as a progress towards racial equality. The federal government wanted to champion the transition from a racial segregation society to an all-inclusive society where everyone had equal rights, and the government story was a triumph of good over evil. The rationale behind the reforms was to show that the American democracy as a form of government that achieved the social justice, and no matter how slow and gradual was the democratic changes; they were superior to dictatorships like in the communist countries. Due to these social change efforts, a USIA pamphlet published in the first half of 1950s, The Negro in American Life, was described as the best presentation developed in the United States. The pamphlet was discussing the failure by the federal government to effect redemptive possibilities as provided for by democracy. The pamphlet also exposed the hypocrisy of racism that was life in American societies. A picture of contemporary conditions for African-Americans was also an agenda in the pamphlet showing how there existed a gap between the land ownership, wealth distribution, and professionalism. The democracy helped address the issue of racism and other social injustices on the grounds of race.[Fredrickson, George M. 1995. Black Liberation. New York: Oxford University Press.]
The social interests of the American from African origin were not a question but disgrace. The Africans used to work on the whites farm with no pay, lived under harsh conditions in the farms, and they were punished for misdeeds ruthlessly. They were denied civil rights as the freedom of association and freedom to movement, and they were disallowed to take part in the national politics. The black-Americans were treated as properties by their masters, and they could be sold and purchased at will. The social amenities were also divided upon the c...