I guess it is a stupid way to get your idea across... and it does tend to alienate people.

[sabrina 1]

177. African American decorated WW11 Veteran, Sydney Street burned his American flag after the

death of James Meredith. He was arrested and convicted but the SC later overturned his conviction.

Do you think there was sympathy for his action then? Did those who were never going to support the Civil Rights movement anyhow, take into account the justifiable anger of a decorated war veteran or did they use it, as is being done now, to try to destroy the movement at the time? He was convicted of a crime.

I am sure his action was viewed as 'not helpful' even by members of the movement. Yet, his action resulted in a SC ruling that upheld the 1st Amendment protections of citizens right to express their disagreements with the government. So regardless of what anyone thought at the time, the results of his actions benefited all of us.

When I look at those photos in the OP, I see human beings, American citizens who were deprived of the rights they were entitled to and did what they had to do in order to obtain those rights. Throughout history, people of all ethnic backgrounds have had to fight for their rights. And in almost all cases class was more the issue, than ethnicity. And despite the successes of the Civil Rights movement, there are still people in this country who see race rather than human beings who are citizens of this country. Which may be why so many African Americans are part of the Occupy movement in this country especially in NYC and Oakland where there is still racism especially in their brutal Police Departments.

As for your 'dragging out Black Americans' statement. What do you mean by that? The Civil Rights movement is part of the history of this country. Today's Occupy movement is about the class war that is going on here, and as MLK said in one of his last speeches:

“The problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.” —Martin Luther King

I don't understand your statement at all. The issues regarding class back then and now have not been resolved, in fact they have grown worse. Creating huge injustices, especially to minorities still. Are you saying we should not talk about our history and try to learn from it? That makes no sense to me.