I Propose that we should take a look and compare Black lives matter to the civil rights movement but also making differences in the  movements my goal is to Keep BLM from making similar mistakes that the civil rights movement did. The Civil rights movement was one of the most influential moments in human history and changed how America is today or for some how it was supposed to be. Black lives matter Is trying to accomplish the same thing almost trying to mirror the civil rights movement in some ways.An analysis of  Black lives Matter and the civil rights movement reveals a deep issue with leadership and rioting  and the problem of not being acknowledged for peaceful protest but are instead are Remembered as inciting violence or Being Known for violence. Both of these movements are not without their flaws being that they both had issues of being a way for those not related to these protests to riot and loot and destroy public property.

BLM is the most recent protest of recent years and has gained a large following there are those in these protests to protest while others only join to riot and destroy public property. The Civil rights movement had a similar issue from 1966 to 1969 riots began in Marquette park Illinois and the Greensboro uprising in North Carolina.Up to 240 riots happened during the civil rights movement and ended with this cause being less and less credible. BLM recently has been more and more frequently been associated with the riots as there are people wearing their t-shirts destroying public property like in the case of George Floyd. When George was killed BLM was quick to protest wanting Police to use less brutal methods of restraint but those who only joined slowly dispersed going around destroying things and some even brought firearms during the protest. The political climate is difficult during protests because the protesters are going to blame one party for everything that has Happened in the case of BLM it was the Republicans and for the Civil rights Movement it was both. During the Civil rights movement the protests were being used as a way to gain political power and to make their voices heard but were usually opposed by the government or the KKK(Ku Klux Klan). The KKK was a group who deemed whites the superior race and wore white hoods and robes and would go around lynching black neighborhoods and Killing black people. The current KKK is less extreme and their Numbers have dwindled and they are less prominent now but back to the Political climate.

The Political climate for BLM was directed towards the republican party mainly Donald Trump. BLM Donald Trump is a racist who doesn’t care or wan’t to Help Black people. Which is true to the extent that he doesn’t care that there are protests; he cares about the american people as a whole, not one race and cares there are riots that threaten Americans rights. Something Similar happened during the civil rights movement with John F. Kennedy during his campaign as he tried to sympathize with African Americans he helped them with the release of MLK so he could continue with peaceful protests. The Civil rights movement was directed towards both because the government's overall view on segregation and racism was not good. An article from the University of Virginia called “Historians compare today’s protests to the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s” really shows how comparable the civil rights movement and BlM is and how different it is. BlM faces the challenges of recognition for non violence due to others taking advantage of a divided country, the civil rights movement faced racism and legitimacy of the movement  “It’s instructive to for the current crisis to remember the civil rights movement faced outright racism from jim crow,but also the deep suspicion with much of the white mainstream media that questioned the legitimacy of nonviolent,direct action protests and civil disobedience”. The civil rights movement faced more challenges than BlM has because of the sheer racism and hate that the civil rights faced. They are very similar in many ways in what they tried or are trying to accomplish. An example was from the Washington post  “How the unrest of the 1960’s compares to today according to the people that lived through it”. One story from a man on reddit going by the name of Fishingman has his story “I clearly remember and their friends sitting down around the kitchen table having a lively discussion/debate and the pros and cons of killing all the protesters recalls fishing man who grew up in a rural poor white family in Minnesota. This is similar in terms of people having conversations about protesters and what everyone wants to do about it according to this man. Both movements cause discussions between non protesters whether or not these movements are working they both faced and still face the problem of violent groups who cause chaos for their own personal gain as briefly mentioned before. The same article from the washington post compares that Unrest and anger to civil rights and how it leads to rioting and destruction “The unrest  is prompting some observers to compare present day to 1968, a year marked by protests,riots and deadly encounters between black citizens and police. The civil rights movement faced the issue of police brutality more than BLM that's not saying BLM doesn’t face police brutality but it is the reason BLM do protests the civil rights movement however faced police brutality while trying to protest peacefully if the protest got out of hand police would beat protesters or shoot them with water from fire hoses our disperse dogs just because the protest got out of hand. BLM has a problem of painting a picture that all police are bad which might lead to some going to extremes against police. Now not ever person in BLM thinks police are bad an article from O'neill institute recognizes that blm knows that not all police are bad “it is important to recognize that the movement and activists are not against police, but against bad police policies such as shooting an unarmed black man and asking questions later”. The same article has a statement from Oprah Winfrey criticizing the movement “Oprah winfrey criticized the Black Lives matter movement for lacking clearly defined leadership at the top that lays out a plan of action” this is very true as no one leads BLM it’s more of a group thing led by everyone in it. The Civil rights movement had clearly defined leadership almost from the beginning In the form of People like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Malcom X and Rosa parks who all voiced their concerns for change and took action to make that change even when facing problems. The civil rights movement is not perfect though it has had it’s fair share of issues. An example of this was in 1966 during the Marquette park march in Illinois led to a disturbance. But this isn’t as bad as the ghetto riots all across the country during  civil rights rioting was the main problem of the civil rights movement along with a bad public opinion and media portrayal. The media plays a large role in both movements as it is one way for them to get their point across to thousands of people for BLM it’s social media for the civil rights movement it was newspapers and tv news. The problem with protesters going to social media is that they can be misleading and often when faced with criticism they angrily deflect the criticism and call that person racist or a bigot. The civil rights movement didn’t face this problem as much because of the limited media exposure they had but when they did it would usually have someone like Martin luther king or Malcom X go on the air to be interviewed.  Public opinion of protests is mixed most of the time BLM has had bad public opinions and good public opinions. Some good opinions mainly come From celebrities like Beyonce and political figures like Kamala Harris and a majority of the black community support BLM. However the civil rights public opinion was more bad than good. The civil rights movement had to constantly deal with white supremacists protesting the civil rights movement The good opinions mainly came from the black community at that time but were outweighed by White peoples opinion and how they thought protester should be treated and dealt with. When this was all said and done my goal hopefully was accomplished Helping Black Lives matter improve while comparing similarities and differences i to the Civil rights movement while also going back in time to take a look at some of the imperfections and problems That the Civil rights movement faced.

Work Cited:

News.virginia.edu  “Historian compares today's Protests to Civil rights Movement of 50’s and 60’s 

www.washingtonpost.com   “How the unrest of the 1960’s compares to today according to the people that lived through it”.

Oneill.law.georgetown.edu  Black Lives Matter: the 21st century Civil rights movement

Statenews.com  “How the BLM movement Compares to the MLK Jr. era civil rights movement