Richard Wright's Legacy Of The Civil Rights Movement

Richard Wright is an African American writer who wrote about the hardships he faced in the South in the early 1900s. Wright grew up at a time when segregation and discrimination were rampant. He became famous later on in his life because of the many books he wrote, including his autobiography Black Boy, which depicts how it was like to grow up during the Jim Crow laws in the South. It is a poignant tale of poverty, loneliness, and the power of thought and imagination. If Wright were to write an autobiography titled Black Boy today, depicting a black boy growing up in the United States nowadays, he would write about the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, police brutality towards African Americans, and President Obama’s positive influence on
He would probably strive for a better understanding of the origins and purpose of the movement, quoting the mission statement found in the eponymous website, “Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression” (Blacklivesmatter.com). Wright would investigate its history and motivations. He would soon find out that the movement was created by women who were appalled at what happened to Trayvon Martin in 2012, “I created #BlackLivesMatter with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of my sisters, as a call to action for Black people after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder and the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for the crime he committed. It was a response to the anti-Black racism that permeates our society and also, unfortunately, our movements” (Blacklivesmatter.com). Though the case of Trayvon Martin did not involve the police, but rather a vigilante, Richard Wright would realize that many black youths are getting killed in the streets. He would then see that the new frontier of Civil Rights is the fight against police
Wright might even quote Malik Miah, author at the website Solidarity-us.org, who wrote, “THERE WAS EUPHORIA in every Black community household November 4. High fives and tears of joy. No one could believe it. It didn’t matter Obama’s politics. A Black man had won! The election of the first Black president of the United States has a dual meaning: social and political” (Malik). Wright would have cherished this moment as well, eager to see the wondrous wonders Obama would soon accomplish. He would love Obama and reel in the words of TIME Magazine, in which author David Von Drehle states, “Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 were dismissed by some of his critics as merely symbolic for African Americans. But there is nothing “mere” about symbols. The power embedded in the word nigger is also symbolic. Burning crosses do not literally raise the black poverty rate, and the Confederate flag does not directly expand the wealth gap” (Von Drehle). Wright would acknowledge that Obama was not just a symbol, but epitomized a concrete victory over white privilege, adding another quote from the same article on TIME magazine, “Whiteness in America is a different symbol—a badge of advantage. In a country of professed meritocratic competition, this badge has long ensured an unerring privilege” (Von Drehle). Wright would then state that Obama’s victory transcended all