Proponents for Anti-Civil Rights

You know the names of the Civil Rights leaders. MLK. Malcom X. Medgar Evers. Rosa Parks. They're infamous, written all over history books and quoted in many an inspirational speech. These are the names you grew up hearing, about the challenges they overcame and the hell they raised to earn their place in American society.

But what of their enemies?

It is a much rarer occasion that you hear the name George Wallace, or L.B. Sullivan, except when referencing them as stuffy old white guys that hated black people. I'm here to talk about the Anti-Civil Rights leaders, the men whose minds were stuck in the antiquated notion that segregation was today, tomorrow, and forever.

A prime example of the anti-civil rights proponents was Bull Connor. He was the public safety commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama, whose ideologies and orders were in direct opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. Connor's racist policies and stance on civil rights as a Southern democrat earned major backlash from the people of Birmingham, and across the country. Connor refused to provide police protection for the Freedom Riders in 1961, and in 1963, he ordered an attack on young peaceful protesters with dogs and hoses then eventually jailed them. These images were broadcast around the world and became apart of history, which led to him being kicked out of office. Bull Connor's legacy is so important because his job was literally to keep citizens safe, and yet he did the exact opposite of protect the men and women peaceably assembling in his jurisdiction. It even calls the First Amendment into play, as his negligence in keeping the protestors safe prevented them from exercising their First Amendment rights.

George Wallace is very well known for his physical stance on the integration of schools, as he blocked two African-American students from entering the building to their classes at the University of Alabama. The Governor of the state refused to allow Vivian Malone and James A. Hood into the school, until JFK called in the Alabama National Guard to get him out of the way. Wallace is also infamous for stating in his inaugural address of 1963 "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." A real pleasant guy to be around probably.

Last comes perhaps the whiniest of the anti-civil rights figures, L.B. Sullivan. The city commissioner of Montgomery, Alabama literally sued the New York Times for running an ad produced by four black ministers that accused him of condoning police brutality in an effort to block the Civil Rights Movement. Sullivan ended up changing libel law as a result of his complaining, and now libel law establishes that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials. Sullivan's case did the exact opposite of what he wanted, as it ended up protecting the press during the Civil Rights Era, enabling them to print whatever they wanted, and freely report on the movement.

These men are sad examples for what the generally accepted worldview was back in the 50' and 60's regarding race and integration, and their actions are an embarrassing reminder of exactly how backwards and illogical racist thinking is.