The 1960s is a decade known for change in America. This change was brought on by the people and was meant to bring justice and equality to the people. 1968 in particular was a very active year in terms of social movements, politics, music, and so on.
I believe historians may one day say the same things about the year 2020. For instance, the Black Lives Matter Movement began in 2013 after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman. Yet, even more protests broke out in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd by murderer, Derek Chauvin. Even though the Black Lives Matter Movement has been in the works for 7 years, it took what feels like a perfect alignment of the stars for it to gain country-wide and transnational support. There were protests in every state in America at this time, and it is safe to say most people are aware of the issues surrounding police brutality against the Black community now. It is unfortunate that that realization had not happened on such a large scale much much earlier, but I do hope this is the beginning of the end of violent policing and all other forms of systemic racism.
However, with this hope comes a harsh sense of impending failure. I look at pictures of 1968 and then pictures from 2020 and wonder, how much did 1968’s social justice fights accomplish? A lot, that much is for sure, but it was not sufficient in ending inequality. Racism, amongst other forms of inequality, simply changed it’s methods in order to stay alive. Sometimes I fear as much as people fight for equality, inequality fights back in order to keep it’s place. Inequality survived 1968, but will 2020 be the year that equality wins the fight once and for all?
Oh, Fanablog! 