History of Social Injustice and Social Resistance Essay

Introduction

The works compared in this analysis touch upon the themes of social justice issues and the movements that fought to overcome those. Capitalism, often racialized, and the resulting class conflict were explicitly defended or attacked by the different sides. Therefore, studying these groups allows contextualizing themes like wage equality and police brutality with the larger view of the deep racial divide. Lastly, capitalism is presented as a corporate-born evil that bears social and ecological implications.

Capitalism

The first movement dealt with capitalism and race in the United States from the 1890s to the 1940s. While the employers fought with unionizing campaigns, the workers went on strikes and boycotts (Ortiz). Black and Hispanic population members had an imposed ‘limit’ to which they could participate and develop politically or socially (Ortiz). They were exploited and repressed whenever they demanded equal rights and wages: fired, deported, or imprisoned (Ortiz). Some of the most notable groups were the African American and Latinx women workers, who argued for an equal minimum wage and pioneered the “radical labor activism,” which later turned into industrial labor unionism (Ortiz). The same movement has evolved the “Forgotten Workers of America,” a nationwide initiative calling the government to intervene and alter the wages and working conditions for all, not just the white populace (Ortiz). However, the unions were struck down by the coordinated efforts of government’s “capitalist powers” like finding replacement immigrant workers for those striking (Ortiz). These factors led to an eventual slow demise of the group.

Another group discussed in the context of racial division is the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). It operated on some of the similar premises as the black workers’ unions, but it took place a bit later, between 1966 and 1998 (Austin). The BPP’s creation followed the public sentiment of the heightened social justice expectation due to the civil rights movement activists of the 1950-the 1960s (Austin). While activists from these two groups may relate to each other in terms of racial equity, the context of this equity was different. In essence, BPP took the concept of self-defense and elected to apply it to the entire black community that struggled from the police brutality (Austin). That tactic would likely serve as a cause of disagreement between black union activists and BPP members, though no direct connections were found. Therefore, while the movements are related by addressing similar issues, BPP may result from the civil rights movement’s devolution.

The last work likewise concerns the issues that capitalism and inequality ignited but applies it across social and ecological contexts. An activist group called the Carnival of Resistance was described as the “enemies of capitalism” (Nowhere Collective 187). The group opposed the capitalist greed and was adamant that large corporations were destroying the collective future for their profit (Nowhere Collective 287). While this movement is the least related to the other two, the parallel with the unionizing workers may nonetheless be traced since both movements stood up against the present inequality, destroying the chances for intergenerational equity. Some of the specific ideas and practices that determined the times of black workers’ union protests were that “black lives only mattered insofar as they made themselves useful to capitalism” (Ortiz). The value of an individual was reduced to how much they could contribute to the rapidly growing economy, and the value of an African American individual could not exceed that border at all.

Unlike the protests and practical workday strikes by the unions in the US, the Carnival of Resistance collective opted for the strategy of performance. Their strategies were often semi-theatrical, for instance, having European bank buildings broken or painted red to express disagreement with the values of capitalism (Nowhere Collective 186). However, protests could also be peaceful, like making a “human shield” to block oil companies’ workers from accessing drilling equipment (Nowhere Collective 201). Violence was used from either side in confrontation and fights between the labor equality protesters and the police, but it was never a central point of their social messaging (Ortiz). Lastly, violence was one of the most characteristic features of the BPP, both in making and unmaking it. BPP opted for self-defense in the form of armed attacks on the police, who had a reputation for harming the black community (Austin). Unlike the other two activists’ formations, the BPP’s proneness to violence ultimately led to its demise (Austin). Thus, different activist strategies and contexts led to differential historical outcomes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the most crucial similarity between the activist groups discussed above is that they all rose against the history of portraying and treating a particular social group as inferior. While the BPP and union workers related to each other through the outcry against systemic racism and oppression, union workers and the Carnival of Resistance shared the opposition to capitalist greed. They varied widely on the ‘aggression scale,’ but all of them have had a part of their history that involved violence. The Carnival of Resistance was a group that tended toward performative processes, viewing destructive tactics as a part of that performance. The Forgotten Workers used strikes and protests, which often resulted in clashes between them and the police. Lastly, the BPP openly used violent methods and ambushes, which led to their suppression. Ultimately, all the movements were not entirely successful in fighting massive corporate and government structures.

Works Cited

Austin, Curtis J. Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party. University of Arkansas Press, 2008.

Nowhere Collective. “Carnival: Resistance Is the Secret of Joy.” We Are Everywhere, Verso, 2003, pp. 173–301.

Ortiz, Paul. “Forgotten Workers of America: Racial Capitalism and the War on the Working Class, 1890s to 1940s.” An African American and Latinx History of the United States, Beacon Press, 2018.