(1965). Still, this progress towards the equality of all citizens did not manage to
unite American society and rather led to further ruptures. But what exactly
caused these divides? Mark Lytle takes the position that it was Johnson himself
who further expedited the growing divides in America through his maintained
efforts to find a compromise, even in areas where there was no perceptible
middle ground (Lytle, 2006, p. 149). Civil rights are in their essence either-or
decisions since the two opposing sides were either profoundly for or against a
reform, so that a compromise would only serve to anger both of them (Lytle,
2006, p. 149). Because it was impossible to please both the people wishing for a
radical reform and the ones wanting to retain the status quo, societal divisions
over any decision were inevitable. Johnson’s will to compromise and to please
everyone proved disadvantageous after the Civil Rights Act had passed: civil right
activists criticised missing provisions on voting rights (Lytle, 2006, p. 152) and
shortly after the signing of the bill, riots and demonstrations arose across
America (Woods, 2007, p. 12). This, in turn, further divided the civil rights
organisations on the question whether the peaceful route was effective enough
and the whole country on the question if the protests were justified (Lytle, 2006,
p. 152).
The Los Angeles Watts riots with its violent outbursts “showed millions of
white viewers a different image of black people” and pushed white activists out
of the movement, as well as irreparably damaging the public perception of the
movement (Waldman, 2008, p. 39). Even though Johnson later addressed their
concerns over suffrage by introducing the 1965 Voting Rights Act (Courtwright,
2010, p. 58), the damage had already been done. The subject became more
divisive, which made finding a societal consensus exceedingly difficult. The
division seemed to lie among racial lines, with POC activists becoming more and
more radical, leading to a decline in support by a majority of the white
7
Made with FlippingBook HTML5