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American Government 4/e Thomas E. Patterson | |||||
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American Government 4/e Thomas E. Patterson | |||||
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
Introduction
ABC TV, Urban Institute found discrimination persists against African Americans
"Full equality is far from being a universal condition of American life"
"Equal rights" or "civil rights"
Members of differing groups—treated equally by government/private parties?
Right of every person to equal protection under laws
Equal access to society’s opportunities/public facilities
The chapter’s main points:
Disadvantaged groups have struggled for equal rights
Americans have attained substantial equality under the law
Legal equality for all Americans has not led to de facto equality
The Struggle For Equality
Jefferson: Equality meant similar moral worth and equal legal treatment
Slaves were not entitled to legal equality
Equality: the powerful seldom bestow it on the less powerful
African Americans
Introduction:
Civil War did not end "institutionalized racism"
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)—justified "separate and unequal" treatment
The Brown Decision (1954)—reversed Plessy doctrine
Majority of southern whites opposed decision
Southern Manifesto—governors planned to resist forced integration
Slim majority of whites outside South agreed with decision
The Black Civil Rights Movement
King nonviolent Birmingham protest in 1963
King’s "I have a dream" speech (August, 1963)
Civil Rights Act of 1964; 1965 Voting Rights Act
The Aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement
Economic status of African Americans has deteriorated (jobs, income gap)
Feeling that there is bias in justice system against black people
African Americans: progress since 1960 in gaining public office
In 1998: more than twenty black members of Congress, two hundred black mayors
Women
Introduction:
English common-law tradition of political disregard for women
Women could not vote, hold public office, serve on juries
1848: first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York
Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 gave women right to vote
Women’s Legal and Political Gains
Equal Rights Amendment failed, three states short of ratification (1982)
Equal Pay Act of 1973 and Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in education
Women have made gains in appointive/elective offices
Sandra Day O’Connor first woman on Supreme Court
Geraldine Ferraro as VP nominee in 1984
Women occupy about only 10 percent of congressional seats, 20 percent statewide, city council offices
Major "gender gap"—more women vote for Democratic party
Job-Related Issues: Family Leave, Comparable Worth, and Sexual Harassment
Three in five women worked outside home in 1995
Gains in law, managerial slots, enrollments in college
Family and Medical Leave Act—twelve weeks of unpaid leave, no job loss
Earning power—Women earn only about three-fourths as much as men
Comparable worth—would eliminate salary inequities
Opponents: market forces should decide salaries in private sector
Sexual harassment: "reasonable woman" standard
Native Americans (8–10 million in 1600s, today more than 1 million)
Half live on or close to federally run reservations—most poor, illiterate, jobless
High infant mortality rate, low life expectancy, low college attendance
Some tribes have recently erected gaming casinos on reservation land
Indian Bill of Rights, 1968—gave them constitutional guarantees
Little chance of reclaiming ancestral lands
Official citizens of the United States only since 1924
Hispanic Americans (fastest-growing minority; 22.4 million in 1990)
Emigrated mainly from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico
Caribbean Hispanics (FL, NY, NJ); Mexico ancestry (CA, TX, AZ, NM)
Hispanics cover a wide political spectrum
Illegal Aliens—includes many Hispanics (see De Canas v. Bica—1976)
Simpson-Mazzoli Act (1986)—citizenship/deportation procedures
California’s Proposition 187 (1994)—cut off public services to illegal aliens
Growing Political Power
Will likely become largest single population group in California
Nationwide, more than four thousand Hispanics hold public office
About twenty Hispanic Americans hold House seats
Asian Americans (by year 2000, will number about 12 million)
Historic pattern of discrimination against Chinese, Japanese (California)
Lau v. Nichols (1974)—schools had to teach English using the children’s first language
Upwardly mobile group, emphasis on academic achievement
Account for 5 percent of professionals/technicians, less than 2 percent of managers
Other Groups and Their Rights
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act extended rights to persons with physical or mental disability (5 percent of population)
Laws to protect the elderly
Homosexuals: "Don’t ask, don’t tell," Romer v. Evans (1996)
Equality Under The Law
Equal Protection: The Fourteenth Amendment (prevents state and local discrimination)
Reasonable-basis test—laws may treat individuals unequally if purpose is related to legitimate government interest
Strict-scrutiny test—has eliminated race/ethnicity as factors in deliberate bias
Suspect classifications—have "invidious discrimination as their purpose"
Craig v. Boren (1976)—sex classifications permissible in some circumstances
Rostker v. Goldberg (1980)—Exclusion of women from combat duty legitimate
Recently, Supreme Court has invalidated most laws with sex classifications
Equal Access: The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968
Accommodations and Jobs—equal access to former, no discrimination in latter
Housing—Despite legal prohibitions, housing remains highly segregated
Due to low income of black families and bank "redlining"
Race is still a factor in the lending practices of many banks
Equal Ballots: The Voting Rights Act of 1965, as Amended
Earlier discriminatory devices—poll taxes, rigged literacy tests, white primaries
Voting Rights Act of 1965—federal agents can register voters; literacy tests banned
Officials must provide ballots in languages other than English where appropriate
Voting turnout among African Americans increased
The 1982 extension renews act for twenty years
Issue of race in drawing district lines still unsettled by courts
Equality of Result
Most forms of government-sponsored discrimination are now banned, but problems remain
Minority families still have lower incomes than white families
De facto discrimination—based on social, economic, cultural biases/conditions
De jure discrimination—discrimination based on law
Affirmative Action: Workplace Integration
Opinions on Affirmative Action
Most Americans see "reverse discrimination" against white males as a bigger problem than discrimination against blacks
Ambivalent public attitudes toward affirmative action programs
Affirmative Action in the Law
University of California Regents v. Bakke (racial quotas impermissible)
Fullilove v. Klutnick (upheld quota systems in federal public works)
Supreme Court in 1980s narrowed scope of affirmative action policy
The Civil Rights Act of 1991
Burden of proof shifted back to employers
Adarand v. Pena (1995)—sharply curtailed the federal government’s affirmative action authority
California’s Proposition 209 bans public employment, education, or contracting programs based on race, ethnicity, or sex
Further restrictions on affirmative action likely
Social Integration: Busing
Gunnar Myrdal and American dilemma of deep-rooted racism
Majority of black people still live apart from white people
More than two-thirds of African Americans live in black neighborhoods
The Swann Decision (busing was a permissible way to compel integration)
Angry reaction to forced busing (Detroit, Boston, Charlotte, etc.)
Northeast and Midwest have most segregated communities
The Course and Impact of Busing
Recent polls: More than 80 percent of whites oppose forced busing
Busing never strongly supported by elected officials
Burden of busing has fallen most heavily on inner-city whites/blacks
Supreme Court recently has relaxed court-ordered busing requirements
Focus shifting away from busing to improving inner-city schools
Persistent Discrimination: Superficial Differences, Deep Divisions
Races differ in access to the most basic resources of society
No greater challenge for Americans than rooting out discrimination
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