Secondly the 1960s saw a rise in black extremists. This was because black residents were growing tired of police brutality and so began to join groups such as the Black Panthers solely to rid their neighbourhoods of oppressive white police officers. Stokeley Carmichael of the SNCC made violent comments such as “We’re going to tear this country up.” These violent messages made the riots even worse. When the Black Panthers talked of carrying weapons for self -defence, they frightened and alienated whites. The increase in black extremists made it hard for the government to help black people any more as they could not be seen to be giving into any form of terrorism. The black extremists were very anti-white and as a result CORE and SNCC expelled white people from their organisations. This meant that there was less funding available and the strategies were not as well thought out as white people in the organisation had gained a better education. This meant the civil rights movement had been weakened and by 1970 SNCC only had three active chapters.
Thirdly the white majority by 1968 were beginning to get compassion fatigue. The civil rights movement had by this time been going on for decades and so the pictures of police violently assaulting innocent black people on television were no longer as shocking as they had been. Also white people were angry at how black people had caused riots, that damaged their property, after important legislations were introduced to try and help them. This resulted in white people becoming dubious as to whether bringing in more legislation would be worthwhile because they did not respond gratefully last time. Following on with the same point, white people would not want a raise in their taxes to pay for black people to have better housing when they start riots that damage their property. The consequence of the riots was that 70% of white people did not black people living in their neighbourhood. Even the white people that wanted to help were alienated when CORE and SNCC excluded all white members and so it was very hard for them to help even if they wanted to. In 1965 a poll showed that 88% of whites advocated black self-improvement. However in 1966 a poll showed 90% opposition to a new civil rights legislation and this shows just how much white people have felt alienated by the riots.
Fourthly the Vietnam War meant that the civil rights movement had to be put to one side. Johnson’s Kerner Commission Report explained the 1967 ghetto riots as a result of white racism, and recommended greater federal expenditure. However, this was politically unrealistic as a war costs a lot of money and so there was not enough money to plough into improving the lives of black people. Taxes had already been raised to finance the war and white people would not want to pay even more of their money especially if it was going on black people who were starting riots. The war also diverted the attention of the media and public. This meant that there was not the same pressure on the government to act as there had previously been. The government did not have the same amount of time to devote to helping black people as they had to organise the war and so it was hard to get more legislation passed. Johnson realised that there was a limit to the amount of legislation that any administration could pass particularly if most of the population were beginning to resist it. Many black men signed up to go to war and were killed. This angered many black soldiers as they were fighting for a country that did not even help them. This was another contributing factor to the riots in many of the cities.
Fifthly congress had the power to prevent bills being passed. Vast numbers of congressmen came from the south and were Dixicrats and so were against helping black people. As a result it was hard for the government to get that many legislations passed. Congress used the process of Filibustering in an attempt to slow down the rate of legislations being passed and in some cases to even stop them completely. Congress could also water down any legislation that was made by making amendments. This greatly hindered the progress of the civil rights movement. The American system had its power split into three different sections that were congress, the president and the Supreme Court. This separation of powers meant it took a long time to get laws passed as they all had to agree. The riots also gave congress an excuse not to pass anymore legislations and so it became very hard for anything to be passed that was helping black people.
I conclude that there are several reasons why by 1968 many black people still faced poverty and discrimination. Many black people did not think enough was being done to help them and so were getting fed up with the poor quality of life that they had. The rise in black militancy gave many frustrated black people an alternative to the peaceful civil rights movement. This resulted in riots starting up in cities across America. White people began to be alienated from the civil rights movement when they were expelled from CORE and SNCC. During the riots white property got damaged and so whites did not want to help black people anymore. Another important reason was that although acts were being passed it was often hard to enforce them. When housing discrimination was finally prohibited in a 1968 act, the law proved difficult to enforce due to white resistance. It was also hard to change many white peoples racist attitudes towards black people as it had been ingrained into them from an early age. Also black people received a poor education and so were unable to get well-paid jobs. This resulted in them having menial or blue-collar jobs for a fraction of the pay that white people received. This meant that black people only made enough money to live in the most dilapidated housing. The war in Vietnam meant that there was not as much funding or time available to be given to helping black people. Also the government did not want to lose white voters, many of whom thought that progress was being made too quickly, and there was only so many legislations that one administration could realistically bring in. Congress also greatly hindered progress as it was made up of many southerners that did not want to help black people and the riots gave them the excuse they needed not to help black people. So although considerable progress had been made in the 1960s many black people still lived in poverty and experienced discrimination.