Throughout history path towards more freedom for self-expression have always followed similar routes. Like-minded people who feel burdened to conform to the society they are in will band together in groups to oppose these conformities either through activism, civil resistance, or revolution. In the last century or so we are seeing activism become the method of choice to bring about social change as people become weary about the use of force and start to see the benefit of peaceful solutions. Now days all most all forms of social change are done through activism. Everyday more minority groups that feel constrained by the limits of their self-expression are seemingly getting more traction then they ever have had before. On the surface level while it seems like these minority groups may be able to bring about the societal change they feel they need, under the surface these groups may be too exclusive or fractured to bring about change solely through civil rights activism. An example of this being the occupy wall street movement, which aimed to seek change towards economic equality, but eventually fell apart due to a lack of central leadership and clear goals. Indeed group based civil rights activism may likely find itself at a dead end in the future and instead will become replaced with new forms of activism that seek to appeal to a multitude of groups and beliefs, in the name of opportunities for self-expression.

            When it comes to greater opportunities for self-expression, a lot of new developments for it in the past have come from civil rights groups. The most common one that comes to people’s minds is Martin Luther King Jr. whose work in the civil rights movement in the 60’s paved the way for increased rights of black people. Before the activism of the 60’s it was nearly impossible for a black person to find a job and to express themselves tv, film, sports, etc. due to the intense racism and roadblocks that they faced. However, after societal norms against black people started to relent in the 60’s new avenues for black people started to appear in media. An example of this is Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek, who had the first major roll for a black person on TV that wasn’t relegated to a demeaning servant or housekeeper role. Nichols even credits King with giving her the motivation to stay on the show because she was such an inspiration for black people everywhere about what they could achieve, (Nishi, blogs.wsj.com).

            No one can deny that the civil rights movement of the 60’s was a breath of fresh air for black people all over America. However when viewing how well similar civil rights groups have done since the 60’s, many landmark cases have come from courts whose ruling didn’t rule in favor of the groups because they think they had been slighted, but because of legislation they thought to be restricting the liberty for all Americans. This trend was noticed by law professor Kenji Yoshino, whose essay The New Civil Rights gives an uncommon perspective on social activism, self-expression, and their future together. Midway through the essay Yoshino gives two examples of how the Supreme Court gave arguments for liberty in their rulings rather than diving into group-based rhetoric. Those cases being Lawrence v. Texas, a case challenging Texas’s laws on same-sex sodomy, and Tennessee v. Lane, a case about the lack of wheelchair access in Tennessee court houses. Both times the court ruled in favor of the minority groups and both times the ruling danced around the issue of minority groups being unequal and instead framed it under the guise of expanding freedoms for all Americans. Yoshino then notes that “In an era when the Supreme Court has closed many civil rights doors, it has left this one wide open. It is much more sympathetic to ‘liberty’ claims about freedoms we all hold than to ‘equality’ claims asserted by a subset of the population” indicating his belief that a new form of civil rights movement will need to form under the banner of liberty for all rather than equality, (456).

            Under the banner of liberty for all civil rights groups can take new strides on the front of self-expression. Yoshino believes that “the liberty paradigm to protect the authentic self is better than the equality paradigm” in part because in case rulings that site equality work to reinforce stereotypes, (458). An example Yoshino uses is that “under an equality paradigm, if a woman who wore a lot of make up to work were protected by a court because makeup is an ‘essential’ part of being a women, this reinforces the stereotype that all women wear makeup” essentially encapsulating broader idea that an evolution from the stereotype enforcing group-based equality civil rights to an all encompassing liberty based civil rights may be what is best for minority self-expression, (458). Yoshino mentions that even Martin Luther King Jr. towards the end of his life expressed his desire to fight for human rights, not just civil rights because it “carried too much baggage of the dominant tradition of American individualism and not enough counterweight from collective striving, and common good” making it known that even back in the 60’s King could see that a civil rights of based on universal freedoms was coming, (457).

            The idea that civil rights groups in the present hurt opportunities for self-expression isn’t something Yoshino holds by himself. Roxane Gay is a prominent feminist writer who has also noticed issues with expression in civil rights, specifically feminism. The feminist movement is one of the largest modern-day civil rights movements that focuses on the goal of seeking equality in order to obtain more opportunities and offer more chances for self-expression. Due in part to its large size and inclusivity, the internal workings of the movement often appear to be fractured or at war with itself. In her essay Bad Feminist, Gay notes that often she will see an article coming from another feminist writer lambasting members of the feminist community for daring to be stay at home moms or that they don’t try to have the perfect work-life balance and that they are giving feminism a bad image, (166).

 Lamenting how there never seems to be a solid standard that women in feminism have for each other, Gay goes on to say “These articles make it seem like there is, in fact, a right way to be a woman and a wrong way to be a women. And the standard appears to be ever changing and unachievable,” exposing her deep frustrations with a movement that is supposed to allow for greater self-expression, but in fact limits self-expression and even encourages women to fit into popular feminist stereotypes, (166). Gay expresses all the ways she feels she is betraying the feminist movement. How she listens to music that degrades women, that she both decries the unrealistic beauty standards for women, yet also likes to conform to them, that she likes diamonds, pink, babies, etc., (167). All these things lead Gay to believe that she is “failing as a woman” and “failing as a feminist” because they go against all the stereotypes and notions of what a good feminist should be like, (166). Despite the defeatist attitude towards her ability to express herself as a woman without feeling like the poster child for how not to be a feminist, Gay resigns herself to the belief that she is better off with an imperfect form of feminism than no feminism at all, (169). This is because Gay recognizes that, despite its deep flaws, feminism is absolutely necessary in order for women to carve out a bigger place in society.

It’s difficult to say if Gay would find the feminist movement more palatable under Yoshino’s idea of a new civil rights movement catered to the liberty and inclusion of all humans. On one hand Gay might find the emphasis on inclusiveness for everyone is better than a fractured membership and that the, hopefully, absence of stereotypes placed on her allows her to finally feel like she can express herself. On the other hand Gay is still concerned with the disadvantages of WOC in comparison to white women and how the feminist movement turns a blind eye to those disadvantages because they don’t want it to make it seem like there is a divide between the two groups. I’d imagine that Yoshino’s notions of cases of liberty as “a rising tide that will lift the boat of every person in America” would make Gay weary to support a movement seemingly unfocused on addressing issues specific to subsections of itself and more focused on improving the opportunities for everyone all at once, (Yoshino, 458). Despite some critical observations of the current civil rights movements, Yoshino does acknowledge that identity politics are still crucial due because they have brought and will continue to bring important issues to the public eye, even if those issues eventually become resolved through matters of liberty, (458). Even if Gay didn’t find the new opportunities for self-expression opened by Yoshino’s new civil rights ideas to be worth championing, I find it hard to believe that Gay wouldn’t acknowledge the merits of such a movement just as Yoshino acknowledged that group-based politics has done a lot of good before.

Personally, as a straight, white, middle-class, male I find myself unable to relate to Gay’s plight of self-expression in a movement meant to help prop her up. However, I do find myself empathizing with her general attitude towards the experience. Gay appears to be trapped in a catch-22 of feeling like she betrays feminism if she leaves or stays. Although Gay’s experience is her own, I’m sure many people can remember a moment in their life where they felt caught in between a rock and a hard place. That’s why I welcome the arrival of the new civil rights. Civil rights groups today appear fractured and confused. Many members of such groups feel divided against one another and stereotyped, Gay included. Yoshino’s prediction of a new civil rights movement free from having to worry about betraying ideas with self-expression seems like may be a breath of fresh air for people like Gay. Even if it doesn’t fix all the problems with social activism, the new civil rights movement may be the best thing for it in half a century.

Work Cited

Gay, Roxane. “Bad Feminist”. Emerging: Contemporary Reading for Writers, edited by Barclay  Barrios, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019, pages 163-169.

Nishi, Dennis. “‘Star Trek’s’ Nichelle Nichols on How Martin Luther King Jr. Changed Her        Life”. blog.wsj.com, Jan 17, 2011.

Yoshino, Kenji. “The New Civil Rights”. Emerging: Contemporary Reading for Writers, edited  by Barclay Barrios, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019, pages 452-460.