If only the protesters hadn't protested, they would have gotten a desegregated society? They would have been allowed in all-white schools? They wouldn't have had to wait for an opening in a blacks-only hospital? Really? Like, when? It had only been a little less than 100 years since emancipation. I guess if they were patient and waited another hundred years, their great-grandchildren might maybe possibly have reaped the benefit of their patience. And of the intervening generations' patience as well.

The "violent negro" stereotype has been around forever, used as a justification to "control" blacks, and though black people have to deal with it, it's a white problem. The civil rights movement was a response to the white-dominated government's refusal to support black citizens' exercise of their civil rights. To blame the civil rights movement, even a little, for a perception caused completely by white ignorance and bigotry is repulsive. The rape victim deserved it, Your Honor! She was showing some cleavage!

If you think that black citizens are second-class citizens now, I invite you to research American black history in the early 20th century. Then tell me that, had you been black, you would have been content to live this way and wait, and make your children wait, for the generous white folks to allow you to eat in the dining room instead of always in the kitchen.

Regards--
Mary Anne