objective: to analyze segregation as a system of oppression and the connections to police practices
Racial segregation, the practice of restricting people to certain circumscribed areas of residence or to separate institutions (e.g., schools, churches) and facilities (parks, playgrounds, restaurants, restrooms) on the basis of race or alleged race. Racial segregation provides a means of maintaining the economic advantages and superior social status of the politically dominant group. In recent times it has been employed primarily to maintain power over other minority groups by means of legal and social color bars. Historically, however, various conquerors—among them Asian Mongols, African Bantus, and Native American Aztecs—practiced discrimination involving the segregation of subject races.
In the United States, segregation became the norm after the Civil War. Segregation, especially in the South, tried to re-enforce the idea of black people as different, as lesser, and as a race that had to be separate from white regardless of economic status. The Black codes in the United States segregated everything from transportation to schools to residential areas to public parks to theaters to pools to cemeteries, asylums, jails and residential homes. In Plessy v Ferguson, the idea of segregation was challenged but the Supreme Court ruled that as long as the facilities were equal, they could remain separate thus the phrase "separate but equal." However, facilities were anything but equal.
Housing segregation was increased with the practice of red lining. The federal government and real estate agents used this practice to keep neighborhoods segregated. In the 1950's red lining did not allow many people of color to take advantage of the economic prosperity of the period by negating loans in the suburbs.
Segregation of children in public schools was was particularly harmful because lower levels of education, less resources and over crowded schools led to less opportunity. The Supreme Court forbid segregated public schools in 1954 with Brown v Board of Education.
Anti-miscegenation laws or miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races. Adoption of children of different races was also illegal.
Segregation in the armed forces was the same as every other place in the US. Despite African American soldiers' wanting to fight in World War II, the same Jim Crow discrimination in society was practiced in every branch of the armed forces. Many of the bases and training facilities were located in the South so they conformed to the social expectations of the area. All the bases there were separate blood banks, hospitals or wards, medical staff, barracks and recreational facilities for Black soldiers. And white soldiers and local white residents routinely slurred and harassed them. Not until 1948 did a presidential order desegregate the armed forces.
Like the rest of society, professional sports were also segregated. In baseball, there were established ‘Negro’ leagues for non-white players (while these leagues were predominantly African-American, there were also several Latin-Americans playing in the leagues, as well) through the early 1950s. Baseball became desegregated in 1948 with the introduction of Jackie Robinson into the Dodger lineup. The National Basketball League officially integrated in 1950. From the 1930's to 1945 professional football was segregated. Basketball was integrated in 1950.
In the United States, segregation became the norm after the Civil War. Segregation, especially in the South, tried to re-enforce the idea of black people as different, as lesser, and as a race that had to be separate from white regardless of economic status. The Black codes in the United States segregated everything from transportation to schools to residential areas to public parks to theaters to pools to cemeteries, asylums, jails and residential homes. In Plessy v Ferguson, the idea of segregation was challenged but the Supreme Court ruled that as long as the facilities were equal, they could remain separate thus the phrase "separate but equal." However, facilities were anything but equal.
Housing segregation was increased with the practice of red lining. The federal government and real estate agents used this practice to keep neighborhoods segregated. In the 1950's red lining did not allow many people of color to take advantage of the economic prosperity of the period by negating loans in the suburbs.
Segregation of children in public schools was was particularly harmful because lower levels of education, less resources and over crowded schools led to less opportunity. The Supreme Court forbid segregated public schools in 1954 with Brown v Board of Education.
Anti-miscegenation laws or miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races. Adoption of children of different races was also illegal.
Segregation in the armed forces was the same as every other place in the US. Despite African American soldiers' wanting to fight in World War II, the same Jim Crow discrimination in society was practiced in every branch of the armed forces. Many of the bases and training facilities were located in the South so they conformed to the social expectations of the area. All the bases there were separate blood banks, hospitals or wards, medical staff, barracks and recreational facilities for Black soldiers. And white soldiers and local white residents routinely slurred and harassed them. Not until 1948 did a presidential order desegregate the armed forces.
Like the rest of society, professional sports were also segregated. In baseball, there were established ‘Negro’ leagues for non-white players (while these leagues were predominantly African-American, there were also several Latin-Americans playing in the leagues, as well) through the early 1950s. Baseball became desegregated in 1948 with the introduction of Jackie Robinson into the Dodger lineup. The National Basketball League officially integrated in 1950. From the 1930's to 1945 professional football was segregated. Basketball was integrated in 1950.
Police Brutality
Enforcing the law is the responsibility of the police. Safety, especially in a big city is one of the most important responsibilities of the police force. From the 1900's to the 1960's officers were responsible for enforcing racist segregation laws. When many African Americans began to move to Northern and Western cities during the Great Migration, the stereotype of black criminality really took off. Police brutality was one of the many points of protests by the Civil Rights Movement.
Police Brutality: The NAACP's 1958 Expose
October 1958 issue of The Crisis, the Detroit branch of the NAACP published the findings its investigation of police brutality and misconduct for a year and a half period from January 1956-July 1957. The report covered 103 complaints made by African American citizens to the NAACP (the Detroit Police Department did not have a formal process for civilian complaints). More than half of the allegations involved unprovoked physical assault by police officers, often in combination with racial epithets and abuse.
The NAACP accused the DPD of a "total disregard" for the constitutional rights of black citizens and detailed the following patterns in the 103 complaints:
October 1958 issue of The Crisis, the Detroit branch of the NAACP published the findings its investigation of police brutality and misconduct for a year and a half period from January 1956-July 1957. The report covered 103 complaints made by African American citizens to the NAACP (the Detroit Police Department did not have a formal process for civilian complaints). More than half of the allegations involved unprovoked physical assault by police officers, often in combination with racial epithets and abuse.
The NAACP accused the DPD of a "total disregard" for the constitutional rights of black citizens and detailed the following patterns in the 103 complaints:
- Searches without cause after minor traffic violations
- Racial slurs
- Assault of friends or relatives who try to protect a person being attacked by police officers
- Illegal search and destruction of property in private homes
- Abuse of people wrongly arrested inside precinct stations
- Abuse and intimidation of interracial couples
- Accosting black women on the street and accusing them of being prostitutes
- Violently dispersing legal assemblies of political groups the officers dislike
- Harassing and abusing black citizens in all parts of the city, not only in the "crime area"
Malcolm X on police brutality
In the 1960's New York Police Commissioner Daniel Murphy enacted a series of new policies to put Harlem on what was effectively a police state. It was the dawn of the modern civil rights movement, and racial tensions were high. Murphy promised to be tough on "racial extremists" and even refused several times to listen to the pleas of civil rights groups who wanted an investigation into police brutality.
On July 16, 1964, New York Police Department officer Thomas Gilligan shot and killed a black teenager named James Powell on the Upper East Side. Hundreds protested in the streets, sparking the infamous Harlem riot. The officer was investigated and then cleared of any wrongdoing.
"In our estimation this is a crime problem and not a social problem," said Commissioner Murphy. In 1964, Malcom X spoke out against police violence and Commissioner Murphy. Below you will find a clip of that interview.
On July 16, 1964, New York Police Department officer Thomas Gilligan shot and killed a black teenager named James Powell on the Upper East Side. Hundreds protested in the streets, sparking the infamous Harlem riot. The officer was investigated and then cleared of any wrongdoing.
"In our estimation this is a crime problem and not a social problem," said Commissioner Murphy. In 1964, Malcom X spoke out against police violence and Commissioner Murphy. Below you will find a clip of that interview.
Martin Luther King on Police Violence
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King talks about the “hate-filled policemen” who “curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters” and chastises people who commend the police for keeping order during protests:
You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.” I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather “nonviolently” in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.” I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather “nonviolently” in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
“We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963. “We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people,” was covered within the ten points in the 1966 Black Panther Party Platform.