POLS 206 Reading notes set 2 Chapter 5 Civil Rights and Public Policy The civil rights movement led by African Americans o Critical role in obtaining more equal treatment for African American and other important groups in US society Most Americans favor equality in the abstract Civil Rights o Policies designed to protect people against arbitrary or discriminatory treatment by govt officials or individuals Equality o According to Jefferson it means all me are created equal o Equality in opportunity emerged from equal rights o 14th amendment No state can deny people equal protection of the law equal protection clause Standards of Review o SC developed 3 levels of scrutiny o In order to pass a constitutional muster most classifications must only be reasonable Race and Ethnicity standard is difficult to meet Gender intermediate scrutiny moderately hard to meet Other age wealth etc reasonableness easy to meet African Americans Civil Rights o Policies of the Slave states and the fed Govt accommodated property interests in slave owners who were wealthy and influential o Scott v Sanford A slave who escaped to a free state was not considered a citizen and didn t have any rights Congress could ban slavery in those territories o 13th amendment ended slavery Reconstruction and Segregation o Former confederate states could not hold an office position the confederate states became like territories under govt military supervision o Jim Crow Laws segregationist laws Regulation of separate public transportation and facilities separate schooling and restrooms Took over the south but common practice in the north too Whites and blacks completely separate o Plessy vs Ferguson During the civil rights era Legalized separate but equal accommodations for white and black Constitutional o Niagara movement turned into the NAACP Response to the practice of lynching and a race riot Equal Education o Integrating started at higher levels of education o OU let in a black grad student but all of his facilities and accommodations were separated from the whites o McLaurin v Oklahoma regions Public institution of higher learning could not give different treatment based only on race o Sweatt vs Painter Separate but equal was unacceptable in professional schools o Brown vs board Legal segregation had come to an end It violated the 14th amendment which guaranteed equal protection o De jure means by law o De Facto means in reality Civil Rights movement and Public Policy o Tactics were sit ins marches and civil disobedience to try and fight for equal opportunity in political and economic components Civil Rights Act o Law making discrimination in hotels motels and restaurants illegal and forbid many forms of job discrimination o Created EEOC which is the equally employment opportunity commission o Govt could withhold grants from state and local govt and institutions that practiced discrimination Voting Rights o Suffrage legal right to vote extend to African Americans by the 15 th amendment and to women by the 19th amendment and for people ages 18 to 20 on the 26th amendment o 15th amendment Blacks could vote o States tried to get around the 15th amendment by administering literacy tests and poll taxes o They also implemented white primary which is where states would exclude African Americans from voting in primary elections They could only vote in the general election o Smith vs Allwright Made white primaries illegal th o 24 amendment prohibited poll taxes o Voting Rights Act of 1965 Designed to let everyone vote and there could not be a literacy test or an understanding of the constitution The rights of other minority groups o Minority majority Members of the minority will outnumber the majority o Native Americans Oldest minority group Dawes Act fed govt turned to a strategy of forced assimilation sending children to boarding schools off the reservations against the will of the families and banning tribal rituals and language Indian Bill of Rights was adopted as Title II of the Civil Rights to tribal govts Tribal groups gained more power AIM American Indian Movement protest loss of Indian lands Indians have been oppressed shoved around live in poverty and have ill health o Hispanic Americans Largest minority usually from central America and Mexico Through the first half of the 20th century they were discriminated and segregated American GI Forum was established as the first Latino s advocacy group Received national attention when a soldier was brought back and the city did not allow his burial because of his Mexican heritage Senator LBJ allowed him to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery Hernandez vs Texas a case when a cotton picker was convicted of murder but there were no Hispanics on the jury Brought to the SC and they ruled in the favor of Hispanics Deprived them of equal protection which is guaranteed by the 14th amendment Pyler v Doe Illegal immigrant children are protected by the 14th amendment Could not deny education to any child o Asian Americans Fastest growing minority group Discriminated against sent to internment camps Korematsu v US SC upheld internment as constitutional Congress has given those still alive benefits if they were in internment camps o Arab Americans and Muslims They have become victims of bias related assaults threats vandalism and arson Experienced discrimination in employment housing education and access to public accomodations Speculated as associated with terrorists after 9 11 and were held in detainment The rights of women o First women s rights activists were products of the abolitionist movement o Lucretua Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized a meeting in Seneca Falls o 19th amendment Giving the women their right to vote o Equal Rights Amendment Passed in 1972 Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of sex o The Feminie Mystique encouraged women to question traditional assumptions and to assert their own rights NOW National Organization for Women were organized from this o Reed vs Reed Prohibited gender discrimination o Craig vs Boren Established the intermediate scrutiny standard for determining gender discrimination o Title 9 of the Education Act of 1972 Forbids gender discrimination in federally subsidized education programs including athletics o Women tend to get paid less than men o Sexual Harassment is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act o Equal opportunity does not exist completely in the military but it