Brown and the Cold War

When I read Brown as a Cold War case I cannot help but think about a group activity we did in class a few weeks ago. All of us had some interest group to promote and we tried to paint our arguments for certain concessions as a benefit to all. For example, factories need to be clean because sick workers cost companies more money than healthy workers. The real reason factories should be clean is because workers shouldn’t have to worry about getting life-threatening illnesses when they go to work, but that’s not how we argued it in class. Brown as a Cold War case seems very similar to that class. We know that segregation and racism really isn’t right, but it doesn’t really hurt your average white male voter. On the other hand, if segregation makes America look bad in the eyes of newly independent Third World Nations, then it really is hurting everybody and we better do something about it. If getting rid of segregation is fighting communism, then it’s much harder to argue against. Sending Louis Armstrong overseas only does so much to fight communism. I just found that connection to the previous classes interesting, however I’m not really sure if it is meaningful.