From the Civil Rights Pioneers to the First African American President and Beyond: Forging a More Perfect Union by Eliminating Injustice, Racism, Poverty and Violence

By Darryl Lezama

The book From The Civil Rights Pioneers to The First African American President and Beyond is a description of some significant events that have impacted our culture in negative and positive ways. The negative aspects of some of the events in the book, is indicative of the kind of destructive behaviors that project some of the worst aspects of our culture people and nation. Nevertheless, as stated by our president regarding race relations, injustice, violence, and crime in general in America, we are better than this we must summon our better angels as we interact with each other. The book in a sense is a challenge for us to examine the negative so that we can change those painful experiences into moments of learning and enhancing our attitudes and treatment of each other regardless of our national heritage, ethnicity, cultural differences, economic status, educational and professional backgrounds, and racial differences. The book is a brief description of experiences that we should not just ignore since many of our great leaders have sacrificed so much to make sure that our nation fulfils its responsibility to all American citizens in terms of Justice, equality, civil rights, and full access to achieving the American dream as we all pursue freedom and the accomplishment of our God ordained dreams. The book is also describing how much progress we have made towards achieving the dream of Dr Martin Luther Kings dream of justice and civil rights for all Americas regardless of race.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496908667

Darryl Lezama

I was born in Trinidad. I am an American citizen. I am proud to have served in the United States Navy for 20 honorable years. I lived in Naples Italy with my family for 7 years while on active duty. I also had the unique opportunity to visit Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, England, France, Spain, Italy, Cuba, US Virgin Islands, Germany, and other places of interest during the time I was on active duty in the Navy. Upon returning from Europe we lived in Charleston South Carolina at the Naval Weapons Station, Goose Creek. After serving in the Navy I worked at the Boeing Corporation where I really enjoyed my time working with the Boeing team. I earned my Bachelors Degree from the University of Maryland in 2006. I retired from the US Navy on 27th March, 2008. I received my Masters of Business Administration in 2012 from Strayer University. I am elated about the progress American has made over the years toward ensuring that all of its citizens are beneficiaries of a more just society where everyone is valued and treated as such. However, in the character of our many great leaders I am persuaded that we have more work to do in order to ensure that those who have not benefited form all the great progress we have made are included so that they are recipients of the many blessings of justice, equality, and achieving the American dream. I am confident that the generations to come will live in an America where everyone can live in communities where they are judged by the content of their character and that we can continue to be the beacon of hope in the free world.

Book preview

CH 1: LEAST WE FORGET

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

I t has become increasingly critical that we the people of the United States understand the fierce urgency for us to work together in order to restore order in our schools, government institutions, our streets, our homes, and nation as a whole. This sense of urgency has become increasingly dire as it relates to some of our underserved communities such as in the black communities. Yes I do believe as a people we have to take a major part of the responsibility to work at making improvements and changes to advance the quality of life especially for the younger generations so that we can help to lift them out of the desperate situations we find ourselves facing. In order for our present generation to fully grasp the concept of overcoming the difficulties of our present predicament and times we must have a complete appreciation for the tremendous obstacles that our great leaders of the past overcame including fire hoses turned on children, police dog attacks, murders, lynching, assassinations, violent attacks, terrorism, dehumanization, church bombings, police brutality, institutional racism. Many other individuals were murdered just for being in the right place at the wrong time. Many of the murders, bombings, and assassinations were pervasive and executed with impunity. This article is an exploratory incite into the modern day predicaments that many young black, Hispanic, and other minority groups may encounter on their life’s journey toward pursuing the American dream. A dream that has become more elusive due to many domestic and international political and economic challenges, that has a direct correlation with educational and economic opportunity and progress. It is clear that if America is to continue to be the beacon of hope and freedom in our world, there are some specific challenges that we must confront in order to resolve some of our own internal domestic dilemmas. Overcoming the enormous problems that we face both globally and in the United States requires that we develop greater collaboration between the different social, political, ethnic and racial groups for achieving more efficient results, leadership and influence. If the Union is to become more perfect it is imperative that we respond to the challenges we face as a nation with a fierce urgency considering the ramifications on future generations. Considering the words of Dr. Martin Luther King during his I Have A Dream Speech. for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. On the other hand for some Americans the dream has become a nightmare due to many different factors including poverty, neglect, and systematic intolerance. Some of the problems that we must confront and overcome inc lude:

•  Poverty

•  Crime

•  Intolerance

•  Neglect

•  Terrorism

•  Racism

•  Ignorance

•  Drugs

•  Gang Culture

•  Black on Black Crime

•  Lack of Educational Investment

•  Insufficient educational opportunity

•  Inadequate economic opportunity

•  Limited Job opportunities

•  Inadequate community investments

•  Underserved communities

•  Systematic Incarceration

•  Dehumanization

•  Stop and Frisk

•  Racial Profiling

•  School to Prison System

•  Overcrowded Prisons

•  Voting Restrictions and Institutional Injustices

•  Ambiguous Unjust Laws (Stand Your Ground)

•  Proliferation of Illegal Guns on our streets and communities

VOTING RIGHTS

It is the constitutional right of all Americans the have the right to vote the candidate or official of their choice. All Americans should have an equal voice in our democracy based on the guidelines of the law. We should all be equally concerned that our electoral process is free, fair and accessible. Recently inn North Carolina, this struggle continued as the governor signed the most restrictive voting laws in the nation. It would seem at times that all the struggles that our civil rights pioneers endured in order for us to have the voting rights bill signed by the president of the United States needs to be enforced nation wide. There was an interesting television report about Mrs. Rosanell Eaton, a 92 year old African American lady who happen to be one of the first African Americans to vote in North Carolina. Now we are seeing that her ability to continue to participate in the electoral process will be significantly restricted because of the new voter I.D. legislation. We must be diligent in constructively opposing such laws which are clearly discriminatory in that it will exclude those citizens who have consistently participated in the voting process over the years.

CH 2: CONQUERING ABHORRENCE, MISTRUST, AND VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

I t is necessary that we invest resources into our underserved communities so that we can overcome many of the evils that are negatively plaguing those and other communities. Without a concerted effort by all citizens including the private sector, community leaders, the Church or clergy, the general public, state and government agencies, there is no realistic expectation that we will make any progress toward resolving these existing problems in some of our under served communities. It will have to take a concerted team effort in order for our nation to fix these challenges. The deplorable system of inadequate education to the criminal justice system to the prison system is a deplorable aspect of our culture that must be changed. It is imperative as a nation that we invest in quality education for our children who live in disadvantaged communities’, we must work together to provide lucrative employment opportunities for those living in depressed communities. The gang, drug, violence, and recklessness that exist in some of our cities cannot continue if we are going to strive to be a more perfect Union. We as a nation must strengthen the lives of all our citizens as it relates to every aspect of their lives including academic development, lucrative employment opportunities, physical security and every other aspect as it relates to the technological advancements that are influencing the way we live today. It is imperative that we understand as a nation we are stronger when all of our citizens have the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives. It is unconscionable that Chicago has taken over as the murder capital of our nation with over 300 murders around the middle of 2013, with many of the victims extremely young innocent children. What ever creative intervention strategies that are necessary to stop the violent trend would be more that worth the investment and effort in order to clean up our communities, schools, and streets. Many of the people committing the heinous crimes have absolutely no regard for others lives, the amazing sacrifices of our civil rights leaders both past and present, the significance of a great education, respect for legitimate authority, and the importance of strong family units. The fact is the overwhelming majority of Americans would like to live in a nation where we can send our children to school without being overly concerned about them having to face the unfortunate possibility of encountering gun or other types of violence involving some kind of deadly weapon used by another student or individual. It would take the effective coordinated efforts of all Americans of good will, regardless of race, who love and care about the stability and global influence of their nation, our children, and our collective future, to diligently work together so that we can strategize, mobilize, organize, and execute feasible practical ideas that would help to elevate those among us who have the propensity or potential of falling through the cracks of hopelessness, despair, drugs, neglect, and ultimately crime along with systematic incarcerations. As Americans we must appeal to our better angels and mobilize all our resources in order to lift some of our young people from hopelessness to hopeful