Week Three Summary

This week T.J. started off our blog posts. He started off by speaking about the right to vote and the right to protest. He also stated that he liked the manner in which President Johnson addressed the problem. “There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” This was the quote that T.J. pulled from the article. As an example, T.J. explained how people who go to city hall when they turn 18 would feel if he/she were told that he/she were unable to vote. He continues by talking about the march from Selma to Montgomery, where a minister was killed and several people were seriously hurt. This was due to “police and local officials deciding that they were above the law.” T.J. concludes by saying, “now, we can all vote as citizens of the United States; however, we are still fighting the civil rights battle today.”

The next person to post was Stephen. He starts by giving some background about the article. Stephen speaks about President Johnson and how he “showed unprecedented leadership qualities and spoke on what he believed was best for his country, and what he believed was best for the future.” He talked about the Voting Rights Act that President Johnson signed on August 6, 1965. This put a stop to allowing “the unfair tests of literacy…that stopped most of the African-American people from voting.” Stephen concluded that even though the Voting Rights Act was established, on August 11, 1965, the Watts Riots happened in Los Angeles. Provided, was a link to Wikipedia, were it tells that 34 people died, 1,032 people were injured, and 3,438 people were arrested.

Adam continues on about President Johnson. He speaks about the way President Johnson was a “man of true equality and stood behind civil equality one-hundred percent.” He believes that there is no divide between people based on gender or color; we are all one, Americans. Adam concludes by saying that one of the biggest points made by Johnson was that the United States “was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose.” Adam posted a link to YouTube which shows a video of President Johnson’s speech on voting rights.

Becca stresses the point that everyone is an American. She speaks about the quote that all group members touched upon, “There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” She continues by speaking about the test that no one could pass for the right to vote. She believed this test was unnecessary. She concludes her post by speaking about the march from Selma to Montgomery.