Read the following excerpt from the NAACP flyer 'Why We March,' distributed during the 1917 Silent Protest Parade in response to the East St. Louis riots and ongoing lynchings:
> 'We march because we deem it a duty to support the Constitution of the United States and to point out where its provisions are being violated. We march because we want to make our protest heard against the lawless treatment of our people in East St. Louis and elsewhere, and to show our sympathy with our suffering brethren.'
Which of the following best explains how the organizers of the Silent Protest Parade framed their campaign against racial terror?
- ABy accepting white supremacist claims that the violence was a localized response to criminality rather than a systemic national issue
- BBy urging African Americans to abandon their claims to U.S. citizenship and prepare for collective emigration to West Africa
- By asserting their identity as American citizens and demanding that the federal government uphold the protections guaranteed by the U.S. ConstitutionCevap
- DBy calling for armed, confrontational self-defense as the primary means to protect Black neighborhoods from white mobs
Cevap
The organizers framed their campaign by asserting their identity as American citizens and demanding that the federal government uphold the protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
The correct answer is correct because the excerpt from the NAACP's flyer 'Why We March' explicitly appeals to the U.S. Constitution and highlights violations of its provisions. By doing so, the organizers framed the fight against racial terror and lynchings as a demand for the enforcement of constitutional protections and the recognition of Black Americans' rights as citizens.
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Anahtar Kavram
Constitutional and citizenship-based framing in early anti-lynching activism