Fifty Years of Dividing Lines: From Selma and Montgomery, 1965 to Ferguson, 2015

Author: Balestri, Leonardo

Year: 2016

Degree: Other

Advisor: Kousser, J. Morgan

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Humanities

DOI: 10.7907/Z9BP00SH

Abstract

"Just as local politics was essential to the creation of southern segregation, so local politics was the crucial factor in creating the circumstances that ended it." Though segregation is no longer the battle du jour, this sentiment is just as true for today’s conflict over police brutality. The same factors come into play: the idea, if less outspoken, of white supremacy; an establishment dedicated to preserving itself by suppressing dissent; the notion that change is possible; and a cocktail of continued oppression, retaliation, and escalation guaranteed to explode.