Comparison of marcus garvey and david duke
Comparison of marcus garvey and david dukeRacial issues have always been debated and followed by many people throughout the history of America and will continue to be for a long time. Along with these debates come movements and with movements come leaders. Two well-known leaders of racially driven movements are Marcus Garvey and David Duke. Garvey was a black man looking to forward his fellow black man’s financial state and living conditions, and he became a leader for his movement. Duke is a white man who feels that with all of the racial diversity in this country the white race is being mistreated and destroyed, and became a leader for a more extreme group of believers. These two extraordinary men can be compared and contrasted with respect to their groups, views, and faults.
First, both of these men were known for their participation in racial interest groups. Marcus Garvey founded the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The objectives of the UNIA were to promote racial pride, create colleges and universiteies for blacks, and establish world-wide commercial ventures. (Rogoff 67). Garvey founded the UNIA because during his frequent ravels he observed that black people were being mistreated, especially when it came to work. He observed the inferior status of black workers around the world. In an attempt to help relieve the plight of these workers he founded the UNIA. The UNIA was, in fact, the first, dominant black interest group, even before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In just a few years after it was founded in 1914, the UNIA had four million members in 1920 and six million in 1923. David Duke’s famous interest group was the infamous Ku Klux Klan. Duke became a member of the KKK when he was only a teenager. He quickly became the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, the highest ranking official. What Duke brought to the Klan was a new, charming, intellectual personality. He wanted to change the stereotypical view of a rowdy, unintelligent redneck Klansman. Under his leadership many new people joined the Klan thinking that it was now respectable with Duke at the Helm. While he is not still with the Klan now, he left an impression in that group that will never be forgotten. Both Garvey’s and Duke’s affiliation with interest groups helped draw attention to not only the group but also to themselves.
Next, Garvey and Duke are similar on their views racial pride and segregation. Both men believe that blacks and whites should be segregated. Garvey is known as a separatist and is famous for the “back to Africa” movement. (Robinson 193) He felt it was hopeless to depend on whites and to try to integrate into the white society because they, like any racial group would continue to protect their own self-interests. (The Road 7) One...
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