Monday, December 15, 2008

December 15, 2008

· The advancement of racial equality required political mobilization of people through the civil rights movement.
· The Civil Rights movement was lead by Martin Luther King Jr. They used civil disobedience to protest discriminatory laws
i. In 1955 they boycotted the Montgomery bus system after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat.
ii. They use nonviolent sit-in demonstrations
· Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
· It was upheld by the Supreme Court
· Other civil rights legislation was passed through Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society
i. The 24th Amendment banned all poll taxes
ii. Voting Rights Act of 1965 empowered the Attorney General to send registration supervisors into areas where less than one-half of the eligible minority voters were registered
iii. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 provided equal education and banned discriminating in housing respectively
· The Supreme Court’s decision in Grove City College v Bell (1984) frustrated enforcement of laws banning sex discrimination
· In 1988 Civil Rights Restoration Act made clear that if any part of institution gets federal money then no part can discriminate
· Civil Act of 1991 reversed or altered 12 Court decisions
· Lack of progress caused an increase in black nationalist movements in the 1960s
· Violence increased and took the form of rioting
i. Black Muslims, most notably Malcolm X, called for the separation of blacks and whites, but didn’t advocate violence
ii. The Black Panthers presence increased in California and violence between them and the Oakland police was frequent
· Civil Rights have been extended more slowly to other minorities
· In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (known as Section 1981) offers broad protection against discrimination of all minorities
· Government policy towards Native Americans has been characterized by appropriations for their lands, neglect, and social and political isolation
· Spanish-speaking American have also experienced substantial poverty and discrimination in cities and rural areas
· In 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act extended protections embodied in the Civil Rights Act of 1964
i. Began after WWII, when disabled veterans found that society was insensitive to their needs
ii. The law covers those with physical and mental disabilities, including people with AIDs, recovering alcoholics, and drug abusers
iii. The law had a deliberately vague definition of disability
· An often overlooked aspect of the Civil Rights struggle is gay liberation movement
· Began in 1969 with the Stonewall Riots
· The Supreme Court first addressed homosexual rights in the 1986 case Hardwick v Georgia
· Gays and lesbians are still denied protection under laws that protect other minority groups
i. They’re unable to serve openly in the U.S. Military
ii. In many states same-sex partners are not able to take advantage of estate planning laws
iii. In many states gay couples cannot sign on to their partner’s health plan

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