Reaction #10:

What evidence does LBJ offer as proof of the widening economic gap between black and white Americans? How does he explain this gap? How are the sentiments he expressed represented in this cartoon:







Cartoon by Barry Deutsch



In 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson gave a speech at Howard University, an all black collage, which stressed the need for achieving true freedom in the black community. In his commencement address Johnson remarked that the definition of poverty differed in relation to black Americans and white Americans; he directly stated that, “Negro poverty is not white poverty”. To demonstrate this Johnson presented some troubling statistics of the decline in income and increase in unemployment of Negroes as compared to white Americans. One of the most upsetting pieces of information he presented was the fact that thirty-five years ago the rate of unemployment for Negroes and whites was about the same but in 1965 the Negro rate was twice as high. Johnson referred to the black community as “another nation” and said that “despite the court orders and laws, despite the legislative victories and the speeches, for them the walls are rising and the gulf is widening”.

LBJ credited the cause of Negro poverty to many sources, including the long years of slavery, past injustices, and the continuing struggle with discrimination and hate. He stressed that the past brutalities served as a constant reminder of oppression for Negroes and for whites they were a constant reminder of guilt. However, Johnson also expressed his hope and belief that the problems they were facing could be dealt with and were possible to overcome. And with the civil rights movement and Johnson’s Great Society, things started getting better for the black community. The gaps in education, income, and access to skilled employment narrowed and although there were areas yet to be confronted, there were considerable gains.

The Barry Deutsch cartoon depicting the white child climbing up and stomping all over the black child to achieve a higher platform represents the black man’s struggle beneath the white man. From the days of slavery blacks were used for the advancement of whites. Even as blacks attained their freedom they were still trodden over and left ‘looking up’ to the white class. And even when some level of equality and recognition was reached, the whites still would not help the lesser blacks. In response to the black child’s request for help the white child remarks, “if I got up here myself, why can’t you?” This apparently ironic statement symbolizes white ignorance- or more so their unfair expectations and ‘forgetful tendencies’ of how they had achieved their elevated statuses in the first place. In comparison to LBJ’s declaration that the gap was ever widening, the cartoon first depicts the two children at the same level. Throughout the scenes the white child is using the black child (who at first had restraints) to rise up. At the end the white child is looking down and sort of mocking the black child for not working hard enough to achieve the same goals. This relates directly to society and what Johnson was saying about the constant reminders of oppression still lingering and the ever widening gap. How can the black child make gains without being given a chance? With no assistance he is forced to remain at the bottom, not much better off than he was from the beginning.