What Is Shirley Chisholm's Argument

Shirley Chisholm’s political career arguable began when she joined the Seventeenth Assembly District Democratic Club in Bedford-Stuyvesant. At the age of 34, she was elected as the vice president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League (BSPL). After she ran for the presidency of this league, she eventually quit both the BSPL and the 17AD. In the winter of 1960, she got back into politics. Chisholm joined the National Organization for Women (NOW) immediately after it was established. She and Thomas R. Jones organized the Unity Democratic Club (UDC) to overthrow the white Democratic party. By 1965, she became New York state’s assemblywoman. She actually won by a landslide. In 1968, she is elected into Congress. As a congresswoman, she passed 8 bills. This is highly uncommon since first time congress members are knows as silent members, and they are to vote with their party. Chisholm was very unorthodox with her methods, and she was not afraid to speak her mind. One of the bills she passed setup New York’s first unemployment insurance and social

security for domestic workers. Another one she introduced was Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SWEEK) program. This sought to give African Americans and Latinos scholarships for college. Her slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed.” This was to show everybody that her choices were her own and that nobody had control over her decisions.
She was very involved with gender and civil rights. She supported National Council on Household Employment (NCHE). The purpose was to help train women for domestic work and to teach employers how to have better work conditions. Teaming up with other feminists, Chisholm help founded the National Organization for Women and the Women’s Action Alliance. She was also a member of the National Council of Negro Women, and she helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC). She announced her candidacy for president behind a pulpit of the Concord Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant on January 25, 1972. Chisholm told everyone she was stepping down in 1982. It is hard to believe that with all she has done in her career, Shirley Chisholm suddenly vanished. Her persistence and dedication eventually made leaps and bounds for both African Americans and for women.
From the beginning, Te-Nehisi Coates argues that America cannot claim to be a superhuman plead mortal error later on. Te-Nehisi believes, with adequate reason, that America is two-faced in its actions. “it is so easy to look away… and to ignore the great evil done in all of our names.” Many Americans are either uneducated in the matter, or they choose to do just this. For most of them, it is probably the latter. This is what Coates is trying to bring to light. Coates is telling his son about many cases that police should have protected African Americans, but have instead used their authority wrongly. At the same time, Coates believes that any wrong move from an African American will end their life and break their body. On the other hand, looking at any argument from only one side will make that argument sound very convincing. Focusing on the side of the law enforcement, this interracial group of men and women are putting their lives on the live every day. In cities such as Baltimore and Chicago, where all that they see are crimes committed by African Americans day in and day out, is it logical to deem this as racism? People argue sometimes that the “victim” only had a knife, but a man that could potentially be on drugs with a knife, can sometimes be worse than someone having a gun. Officers, knowing that their actions are watched like a hawk, are not going to just kill someone. If an officer tells the person to drop the weapon, the logical choice is to do just that. Why would someone intentionally antagonize an officer? But, yes, all of these deaths do bring up the question: are all of these killings out of self-defense, or do they hold some kind of motive behind them? “I was the victim and the victor.” Coates quoted a white male who was not accused of murdering an African American boy, who supposedly had a shotgun, but for firing off too many times while the boy’s friends were running away.
During his interview with a host of a news show, Coates is asked about hope. After showing Coates a picture of a young African American boy hugging an officer, the hose wonders his thoughts on this subject. One would think Coates might want to believe in hope. If it not for America, then maybe for his son’s future. On the other hand, Coates fells personally sad for the host, families watching the show, and those people believing in “hope.” This is potentially because of how the media portrays everything. Many Cops are out there changing tires, protecting all citizens, and quite frankly not getting paid enough, and yet the media does very poorly showing this on the night news. But, “only those who have privilege do not know what privilege actually is.” Coates believes that the host is in a gorgeous dream, and that she would not notice what all is going on around her. Te-Nehisi often writes about this “white body” and “believing that they are white.” The “American dream” was made for whites only; however, it was made of the backs of African Americans. “America understands itself as God’s handiwork, but the black body is the clearest evidence that America is the work of men.”
As Te-Nehisi was talking about his childhood, he described the ultimate fear that both kids and adult African Americans were dealing with. Coates described his life, and he knew that to survive the streets, one has to be either tougher than them or try to escape them through education. He strongly felt that the police wanted them to live in fear for their “body.” One statement Coates mentioned was the reason for gangs is fear. Coates said that since these men were so fearful for their lives, they chose to join a gang. On the other hand, he made it sound like an excuse for gangs. There is no reason for terrorizing their own people just to feel power. Only thing that they are doing is giving themselves a bad reputation, and they are hurting their neighborhoods. Coates argues that the only African Americans talked about in school are important “firsts.” Only people such as first mayor, congressman, and general are taught, which is sadly true. Many African Americans helped this country grow by leaps and bounds, yet many are unknown. One example is Shirley Chisholm. All that she has done for both women and African Americans, yet most people have never even heard of her. This is evident in that Coates meant by his terms “white body” and “white dream.”
“Hate gives us identity.” This is one of the truest sentences that Te-Nehisi wrote. “The nigger, the fag, the bitch… illuminate the border, illuminate what we ostensibly are not…” People who experience new things are very wary about them. The only way they know how to cope is by calling them derogatory names to help themselves feel better and superior. One humorous statement Coates included was a quote from Nixon. “Strom is no racist.” Strom Thurmond was a segregationist senator in the south. During the lynching of the 1900s, media reported what had happened was at the hands of unknown culprits. This statement was partially due to Thurmond.
It is an argument that could last a lifetime: should we understand and reckon with the history of racism, or leave the past in the past.

It is very evident that this argument is not so black and white. On one side, we as Americans have been tormenting and mistreating an entire race of people for centuries. On the other side, what can be done nowadays to fix it? There is no way to change the past and bring justice to African Americans like they deserve. Neither African American or white can say that they know someone who was a slave or who was a slave owner. We have come a long way since then, but have we gone far enough. With racism still being such a huge argument, I believe that we have far to go until we fully leave the past in the past. However, since the South was originally meant to keep the African American below the white, we are going to have to deal with the root of the problem, which is not easily

recognizable.
The goal of the civil rights movement was equality under the law. Without a doubt there is much more work to be done. Shirley Chisholm did not fight for all of the things that she did just to be forgotten. Te-Nehisi wrote his entire book on the “dream” being for whites only. If the civil rights movement had accomplished what it sought to do, why then in 2015 are we still discussing such topics over and over again? Law enforcement during the civil rights movement and stretching even far back as the 13th Amendment when slaves were set free from slavery, was made to burden the African American and to keep them down. But, many things have gotten better from the civil rights movement. Not only have we had an African American as President of the U.S., but the law enforcement is no longer all white. No longer is it the white man controlling everything, but he still controls much. I believe with the progress we have made; we are on the right track. In another 50 years or so, there should hopefully be no more discussions on such topics of the past.