Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Seeing the peaceful protests all over the country yesterday about Trump's immigration policies, I am thinking that things are not as bad as compare to say 50 plus years ago.  During the civil rights protests in the 60s, the marchers were often attacked by the police.  It was basically happening in the south, not many people in other parts of the country were marching then compared with today.  Eventually the marchers of the 60s won the sympathy of the majority of the nation, but the sympathy of the majority of the nation toward the plight of the refugees and the children is immediate today.  Going further back, nobody marched to stop the Chinese Exclusion Act.  Hardly anyone marched against the Japanese American internment camps.  So despite the action of the Trump government today, I think the country as a whole is more civilized.  That doesn't make the pain of those separated from the family any better, but gives hope that the country is still evolving for the better.

The same thing can be said about white Americans who complain that things were better in the good old days.  If you were Italian, Irish or Jewish back in the "good old days", you were considered inferior.  If you are Catholic, you may remember that when Kennedy was running to be the first Catholic president, there were many who still thought that Catholics were not good Americans because they would be loyal to the pope rather than the U.S.  There were drills in schools for atom bomb threats from the USSR.  Many thousands of men were dying in Vietnam, a war we would lose. There were riots in the streets of Watts, Detroit and others that made white people feel unsafe.  So I think there should be some reality check when you think about the "good old days".