(NNPA)—In the depths of the Cold War that raged in the early 1960s, the USSR was scoring points against the United States in the court of world opinion because the world could witness how hollow and hypocritical was the pronouncement that in America, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
Black Folk in the South were being beaten publicly and lynched in the shadows for demanding that America live up to its promise. And throughout the entire country, Black Folk were being treated unfairly and routinely denied justice.
The Russians only had to point to the news stories coming out of Alabama, Mississippi and Washington, D.C. and say: “This is what American justice looks like—“America” is a lie.” The Russians knew that “America” as a projection on the world stage was not a true image of the country that lynched and brutalized Black Folk. The motives of the Russians may have been purely political, but there facts were correct. And partially because the Soviet Union shamed the United States before the world, many politicians, including, John F. Kennedy, felt compelled to do something about it.