Race and Rights

Question 1

What are the ways in which rights of racial minorities in the US have been advanced?

Answer 1

• constitutional amendments
• legislation
• SC decisions
• presidential leadership
• citizen action

Question 2

How have rights in the US been mainly advanced and protected?

Answer 2

through the Bill of Rights

Question 3

What are key developments of racial rights in the US?

Answer 3

• abolition of slavery
• civil rights movement
• affirmative action
• election of Obama as the first black president

Question 4

What is affirmative action?

Answer 4

programme schemes or actions that seek to give minority groups a head start in key areas of public life such as higher education, schooling or politics

Question 5

Who introduced affirmation action and why?

Answer 5

President Kennedy to ensure that employment practices would be free from any form of radical bias

Question 6

What are the benefits of AA?

Answer 6

• equality of results rather than merely equality of opportunity
• statistics show improvements in racial equality
• opens doors for those who were disadvantaged in the past

Question 7

What ideas does AA embody/enforce?

Answer 7

• embodies the idea of equity
• promotes racial tolerance and multiculturalism

Question 8

How might AA be used?

Answer 8

through the use of quota, universities may reserve a specific percentage of places that they must allocate to black people or to Hispanic people

Question 9

What is the SC’s relationship with AA?

Answer 9

the SC upholds AA both advancing and regulating AA programmes

Question 10

Which two presidents have been seen to support AA programmes?

Answer 10

Obama and Biden

Question 11

Fisher v Texas 2013

Answer 11

Obama affirmed the validity of using race as a factor in determining university admissions

Question 12

How do presidents show support for AA programs?

Answer 12

often within executive administration and executive orders which leads by example for other organisations and political administration

Question 13

What executive order did Biden call that supports AA?

Answer 13

• establishing a new annual process requiring agencies to create an annual public Equity Action Plan
• first was to fund historically black colleges/unis/ indigenous tribes and new programs
• to help close racial disparities in job and housing opportunities

Question 14

What ongoing case in SC is debating AA?

Answer 14

in 2014 Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard University for racial discrimination on the grounds that they unfairly restricted the number of asian Americans admitted to the school

Question 15

What do the Students for Fair Admissions call for?

Answer 15

a completely blind admissions policy in which nobody knows the race or ethnicity of any applicant

Question 16

What are the arguments for the use of AA?

Answer 16

• needed to improve socio economic status of minorities
• has helped to close the gaps in education and income between racial groups
• helps reduce racial attitudes
• has arguably led to an increase in university graduation rates by ethnic minorities

Question 17

University of California v Bakke 1978

Answer 17

effectively ended the use of quotas declaring it unconstitutional under 14th amendment

Question 18

Schuette v Coalition to Defend AA 2014

Answer 18

rejected a challenge to Michigan’s right to end AA using a state initative

Question 19

What are the disadvantages of AA?

Answer 19

• can be seen as ‘reverse discrimination’ as advantaging one group can disadvantage another
• treats people differently so isn’t equal
• perpetuates a society based on colour and rac
• hasn’t worked as racial inequality still persists and their is a major gap between racial groups in top colleges

Question 20

Jim Crow laws

Answer 20

the collective name given to any laws which continued to restrict minority rights

Question 21

How would states restrict black voting?

Answer 21

using literacy tests and felony voting restrictions

Question 22

How were the Jim Crow laws overturned?

Answer 22

Voting Rights Act 1965 - prevented any state or local government from creating practices that led to racial discrimination in voting

Question 23

What is gerrymandering in terms of race called?

Answer 23

majority / minority districts

Question 24

Give an example of where majority / minority districts were used

Answer 24

in the South - black voter registration was close to zero due to how effective the restrictions were

Question 25

How did Obama’s presidency impact rights of ethnic minorities?

Answer 25

• first black president
• elected without AA
• suggested that the election of a black president has led to a coattails effect in the diversity of congressional representation which would not have taken place otherwise

Question 26

How can individual figures of minority groups become high profile role models?

Answer 26

they can use their position in Congress to highlight racial inequality both within Congress and to also directly introduce measures and policies aimed at reducing inequality

Question 27

Give an example of legislation that Obama passed to give minority representation

Answer 27

DACA - protected eligible immigrants who came when they were children from deportation, gives them protection from deportation and a work permit