Question

Investigate the positions of black Conservatives who remain critical of the goals of the Civil Rights Movement and the Great Society.

Answer 1

Conservatism means opinions that are partial to or biased in favour of traditionally held and time tested values and customs, Conservationists do not prefer to become adaptable to changes in society . The role of the black conservationists is important in view of ‘equality’ being the most important objective of the civil rights movement.

“Black Conservationists’, or people of African descendants who up hold the values of their ‘black’ ancestors to the extent of placing importance on their identity as ‘black’, are usually people who rather prefer to be traditional in their views and approach rather than boost the morale of the civil rights movement by opposing it , openly or otherwise. They felt that they were at a disadvantage as against the ‘clout wielding whites’ and hence did not see a ‘head on collision ‘ as a perfect answer to their inherent community related issues whether it is racial discrimination, discrimination at work place and so on. The black conservationists, considered a diplomatic and a amicable solving of their controversial issues rather than resorting to law.

During the civil rights movements, the black conservationists fought against the issues of racial discrimination across various sectors but soon felt the need to change their fight path from an aggressive movement to assertive fight and ‘dialogue’ or diplomacy was given preference over ‘fight and violence’.

The conservationists believed that societal peace and harmony can be achieved only when they worked in coordination with the whites rather than against them, since they believed that the whites had predominantly greater ‘say’ in all matters be it education , housing and health or transport and even with respect to employment and income opportunities.

There was widespread and visible diversity of opinions expressed by black community during the civil rights movement—there was , on one side a need to bring about a radical change and to culminate the fight in greater freedom of right and expression to the African community, while on the other hand , there was a strong support for ‘capitalist’ tendencies and a ‘free market sector’ with gradual alignment of the black sector into the society rather than ‘fighting it out’. There was a constant divide between ‘freedom ‘ liberality’. Some of the blacks believed in ‘liberality ' was the basic goal and propagated this liberality could ensure that they are merged into the society gradually rather than firmly oppose the ‘all strong whites’, who they felt would have an upper hand in all issues because of their sheer dominance in the society.

Such a view on ‘liberality’ shifted the focus away from the central objective of ‘gaining equality for the blacks, as against the discriminatory attitude to a more different issue of liberality and its dominance over social justice. This view shifted the focus away from the ‘blacks-related issues’ especially discriminatory issues.

The black conservationists who opposed the civil rights movement felt the need to create borderlines which clearly gave importance to liberality and freedom in the society rather than merely opposing discrimination of any kind. They felt that in providing greater scope for equality they were side-lining the basic tenets of capitalism which is freedom of expression. They supported in the traditional economic set up of capitalism which gave greater prominence to ‘spirit of enterprise and liberty’ rather than ‘equality’.

The black conservationists upheld their criticism against the civil movement on the point that while on a macro ( aggregate basis) it could lead to general and greater welfare of the community yet on a personal basis it could mean compromise of personal satisfaction by the individual which ultimately did not lead to the desired goal of social welfare.

It was an argument between an individual’s right to act , in accordance to his/her preferences ( though with in the legal limits!!!) and the sacrifice of such individual interests to reach a greater goal of ‘equality’ in the larger interests of the society. In short , it was a conflict between the basic tenets of socialism and capitalism –two economic systems which were ideologically opposed to each other—while capitalism believed in establishment of individual sovereignty and gave greater importance to the working of the ‘invisible hand’, in determining the ordinary business or activities of the society—Socialism gave the utmost importance to the ‘State’ and its ideology was that ‘individual welfare was secondary to societal welfare.

Though in effect it cannot be conclusively stated that ‘liberality’ was more important over ‘equality ‘ or the latter over the former. An in depth analysis about the thought process of the black conservationists who opposed civil rights movement has to be made and due consideration be given to the audacity of such people to openly declare views which were opposed by their own community members. It has to be noted that these conservationists sought to support their need for equality to be given importance in a more liberal light rather than merely going the socialist way.