5 African-American characters who changed the current story

April 16, 2019 at 15:38 a.m.


5 African-American characters who changed the current story


"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; who are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, freedom and the search for happiness ". Thus begins the Declaration of Independence of the United States, made public by the 4 of July of 1776. On paper, these words may have great significance for minorities, but in society everything changes in tone and does not seem to matter.

In the United States there was the slavery of the Africans and the discrimination of the Native American peoples. In Japan and other regions of Asia it was intended to maintain the purity of the race by pointing out and denigrating foreigners. Latin America suffered the abuse of the European powers and we all know what happened to Hitler in Germany and his supremacist ideas.

Racism is the greatest backwardness of man and lasts to this day to a large extent. But despite this, there are people who have raised their faces to face this situation.

Martin Luther King Jr.

 

King began his barrage after the arrest of one of his colleagues in the case, named Rosa Parks, who was arrested for not yielding her bus seat to a white man.

His fame rose as the foam, leading many pacifist associations, congresses and conferences throughout the country.

In the summer of 1963, Martin Luther King's struggle reached its climax as he led a pacifist protest through the streets of Washington. More than 250.000 people attended the march, where the activist delivered the most inspiring speech of his entire career: 'I have a dream'.

Martin Luther King always stood firm in promoting non-violence as the main tactic of the civil rights movement and due to his peaceful struggle he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Barack Obama

 

At the beginning of his term, what his Republican enemies lamented most was not the unemployment rate, but the deficit. This has fallen by more than 70%, the lowest since 2007, but, curiously, no Republican recognizes it. Obama rescued the auto industry, and saved the country from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

At the same time, Obama has done more than any other leader to fight climate change, leading the Paris agreement with the signing of almost 200 nations, which earned the applause of Pope Francis. In these years the country has seen the largest investment in its history in renewable energy: solar energy employs more workers today than the coal and wind industry is already cheaper than traditional energy.

During this government, the Dodd-Frank reform was implemented to prevent the 2008 crisis, unleashed by the cheerful Wall Street boys, from repeating itself. The tax was increased to the richest; the public health system, Obamacare, was reformed, with 18 millions more insured today; and gay marriage was legalized at the national level, a true triumph of human rights and social equality.

Nelson Mandela

 

If we had to summarize in a few words the importance of the figure of Nelson Mandela, it would be enough to say that he was the person who made blacks and whites live in peace in South Africa. In addition, the country's first black president, after decades of white domination over the South African black majority.

He was also, perhaps, the best known prisoner in history. The number he was in prison, 46,664, became a worldwide symbol and an example of the struggle for human rights. He spent 27 years in jail for fighting the "white" regime that, through repressive and racist laws, separated and discriminated against the black population of South Africa.

He was accused of "high treason" for promoting and defending interracial equality. But in the end their fight and their sacrifices were rewarded. Mandela, a symbol of freedom worldwide, was released in 1990 and began working with the then president of South Africa, Frederik de Klerk, to achieve a multiracial democracy in the country. In 1993, Mandela and De Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and in April 1994, after more than 4 decades of repression of the white minority towards the black majority, the first multiracial elections in South Africa were held.

Oprah Winfrey

 

Winfrey used her personal experience as a victim of abuse as a lever to promote social changes in the face of these types of problems. In 1991, being a well-known television presenter, she went to the Senate of her country to testify before a committee that was studying the National Law of Protection of Children, which proposed the creation of a database with names of all the people in the country who have been convicted for committing abuses against minors.

"I speak here on behalf of children who want to be heard, but whose screams, desires and hopes I think often fall on deaf ears," he said then. His testimony took effect and two years later the then President Bill Clinton signed the legislation that has since been dubbed the "Oprah Law."

In 1986 he founded Harpo Producciones. Inc ('Oprah' backwards), and in 1988 he bought a production studio in Chicago and took over the production of his show. This fact made her become the third woman in history to own and produce her own show, as well as the first African American, regardless of gender, to own her own production and entertainment company.

Thurgood Marshall

 

Thurgood Marshall was a distinguished civil rights lawyer who had served as attorney general for two years when Tom Clark, Judge of the Supreme Court, retired from 1967.

Marshall was a hero of the American civil rights movement, who successfully fought segregation in schools in the famous Supreme Court case Brown v. Education Committee in 1954.

As a lawyer for the NAACP, he won many civil rights cases and would win 29 from his 32 cases before the Supreme Court. Marshall continued to fight for civil rights as a judge of the Supreme Court, campaigning for affirmative action programs. Marshall retired at 1991 and died two years later, at the 84 years of age.