Right to Private Property Aided In Civil Rights
Private property is our most fundamental right. This opinion piece reminds us its importance in fighting for civil rights.
Driving is a liberating technology, and we ought to recognize this, especially as we approach Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Let’s think back to 1955, when African Americans stayed off segregated buses in Montgomery, Ala. During the year-long boycott, 325 private cars, some owned by African Americans, some by whites, some by churches, picked up people at 42 sites around the town.
Police harassed the drivers — Martin Luther King Jr. was stopped for speeding (30 in a 25-mph zone) about 30 times — but oppressing people in private cars is harder than oppressing them in public buses.
The boycott was successful, in part because of King’s fiery rhetoric, but also because of car ownership.
How would the problem of bus segregation have been resolved in the idyllic world of public transport? Obviously, the private car solution would be out.
Couldn’t blacks have set up a competing, unsegregated bus company, unfettered by oppressive regulation?
Well, they tried in Montgomery, but that required a permit. And relying on the government that oppresses you to help you become self-reliant is an iffy proposition.
Said Mayor Gayle, as he turned down their application in 1956: “If the Negroes want to ride a public vehicle, they can ride the city buses. There is an abundance of public transportation in Montgomery for those who want to use it. If there is a group of people who don’t want to use this public transportation, that’s their fault.”
Lots of people on the left like to piss on car ownership mostly because they are unable to connected the importance of car ownership to liberty.