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Katherine Koziara Paper Two Manuel, PS 307 4/2/13 Marginal to Monumental: How To Best Upset the Status Quo The 1960s expanded the political stage, forcing affluent Caucasian males to share the spotlight with the poor, minorities, and women. In order to preserve their political standing, the original power holders would have had to fight a variety of techniques that were developed by

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parties aspiring to enter the political arena. The opposition was too diversified and numerous for these power-holders to maintain the status quo. I have chosen to analyze Martin Luther King, Jr.'s pioneering of servitude, lesbian women's position of exclusion, and the Black Panther party platform that was bolstered by the idea of creating a "black colony," among other movements of this time, to study how greater political influence was achieved during this decade. Despite the observance of many successes through multiple techniques, certain actions were more triumphant than others. Through the successes and failures of these movements we can find the best tactics for increasing political inclusion include working within the established system, establishing a group comprised of multiple factions that want the same outcome, and ensuring that attitude change precedes policy change. The decision to work within the system is a critical one when establishing a political movement. For the purposes of this paper I define the system as the democratic, capitalist government that rules this country. The choice to abandon the current system will limit the successes of a movement before it even begins unless the movement aims to overthrow the current government and start anew. Without adapting to the system in place, movements will

! constantly be fighting for power against a political machine that is better established and supported. Take, for instance, the Black Panther party platform. For their major political objective they adopted a "United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony" that would allow only "black colonial subjects" to determine their national destiny (Black Panther Party Platform). These foundations of the party are unattainable; they wanted to enjoy all of the spoils of the current government such as decent housing, education, and full

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employment without the responsibilities of military service and prison and jail time for convicted felons. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 took the opposite approach to the same problem. Both the Black Panther party and the supporters of the Civil Rights Act were working towards an end to discrimination, education changes, and occupational opportunities, but the Black Panther party wanted segregation from the white society while the Civil Rights Act supporters wanted to integrate and assimilate into the current institutions and establishments. They fought to change the status quo but aimed to accomplish this by enforcing "the constitutional right to vote," to "authorize the Attorney General to institute suits" to protect African American rights, and to ratify this Act through "the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled." (The Civil Rights Act). While there was heavy opposition and these specific changes took time, the act was ratified and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was created through this act continues to fight discrimination in public and private institutions to this day. The Black Panther party, however, left behind a legacy of violence and failed to accomplish most of its goals. Working within the system seems to be an integral part of succeeding in the political arena as exemplified by these two parties working towards similar goals through opposite channels.

! A political movement must also recognize that sharing power is the best way to incite long-lasting political change. A person gains freedom through sacrificing some of his or her power and including other groups that want similar changes so that everyone is better off. This principle operates at the highest level of government and transitions all the way down to smallscale protests. The lesbian feminists discussed in Lillian Faderman's Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers did a poor job of understanding this principle and their movement suffered for it. They isolated themselves from men; their view was that "men were dispensable in all ways,"

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(Faderman, 208). They despised gay men because they separated sex from emotions just like the heterosexual males they abandoned and their radical ways caused wealthy lesbians, older middle-class lesbians, and ethnic minority lesbians to fear that they would jeopardize the entire feminist movement. They failed to recognize, however, that this action of isolating themselves from many other individuals that were fighting for similar rights was a detriment to their triumph. The individuals that organized at Stonewall, however, were much more successful in their approach towards equality. Factions came together in the face of police raids and garnered political attention for the gay movement. "Drag queens, third world gay men, and a handful of butch lesbians congregated in front of the Stonewall," and soon their numbers increased tenfold (Faderman, 194). A few forward thinking individuals utilized the riots, drew parallels between the sufferings of other minorities and those of homosexuals, and worked with the more flamboyant and working-class homosexuals to make the Stonewall Rebellion a turning point in the gay rights movement. These individuals realized that in order to be successful they would have to give up some of their personal prejudices towards other minority groups and homosexuals with a lower socioeconomic status and work together towards a common goal. If

! the lesbian-feminists had utilized this principle, their attempt to change society's attitudes towards women would have been more effective. In Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky notes that the process of powerful political changes commences with a change of attitude and ultimately creates policy changes. We see these steps exemplified in many movements of the 1960s. The initial and crucial step to successful and

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impactful change is a large-scale change in thinking. Attitudes must evolve in order for the status quo to evolve. James Patterson notes in Grand Expectations that "changing the racial character of schools could not do much to redress the larger social and economic inequality of American life" (392). The desegregation movement would not have been successful if the individuals involved had not recognized that attitudes needed to change before any policy changes could be implemented. They accomplished this attitude change through the use of peaceful demonstrations that were highly publicized. When peaceful demonstrators were attacked for their beliefs and the police brutality was plastered across newspapers it elicited an emotional response of both pity for the helpless picketers and anger towards the aggressive bureaucracy. Many Americans realized the cruelty and discrimination that African Americans were subjected to and Blacks and Whites came together to form institutions such as CORE, EEOC, and the NAACP to fight prejudice. The March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and other organized movements pressured the government into policy changes that still exist today. The notion that attitude change must precede policy change in a successful movement is backed by heavy evidence. Some may argue, however, that changing minds is better accomplished through initial policy changes. The idea that individuals need to be guided through the process of attitude change is one that can find some support in many movements of the 1960s, such as Whitney Young's career-long fight to influence public figures and business

! leaders to implement laws enforcing socioeconomic opportunity. These leaders were initially hesitant, but conceded to his wishes when they began to understand how economically feasible his proposals were. He helped them save money and improve efficiency through equal opportunity employment. While this is a great example of successful policy change, his work failed to change the attitudes of the people he influenced. African Americans still suffer from

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unequal pay and a large majority of congressional seats are still occupied by Whites. Young was successful because his plan offered an incentive to these leaders. Had it not been fiscally conservative to adopt these practices, African Americans would be forced to continue to accept wage discrepancies until attitudes shifted. If Young sought primarily to change attitudes, he would have seen policy adjustments in diversified sectors follow this change rapidly without having to use persuasion. The Sixties are championed as a time where politically insignificant individuals demanded influence in government and utilized multiple channels to achieve that influence. Some movements were more successful than others, some movements had longer-lasting impacts, and some movements are more favorably looked upon by today's standards, but each tactic upset the status quo to some extent and forced Americans to analyze the plight of marginalized citizens. By working conventionally, acknowledging the need to include diversified groups into a comprehensive movement, and inciting attitude changes, citizens in the 1960s were able to create a more tolerant, integrated America.

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! ! ()*+,!-./01! ! Alinsky, Saul D. Rules for Radicals. New York: Vintage Books, 1971. N. pag. Print.! ! Black Panther Party. Black Panther Party Platform. Ed. Frank Luttmer. Hanover College, Oct. 1966. Web. 4 Apr. 2013. <http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111bppp.html>. Faderman, Lillian. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in TwentiethCentury America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. 194-208. Print. Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. 392. Print. "The Civil Rights Act." Our Documents. N.p., 2 July 1964. Web. 4 Apr. 2013. <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=97>.!

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