Race and Rights Flashcards
What are the ways in which rights of racial minorities in the US have been advanced?
- constitutional amendments
- legislation
- SC decisions
- presidential leadership
- citizen action
How have rights in the US been mainly advanced and protected?
through the Bill of Rights
What are key developments of racial rights in the US?
- abolition of slavery
- civil rights movement
- affirmative action
- election of Obama as the first black president
What is affirmative action?
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
Who introduced affirmation action and why?
President Kennedy to ensure that employment practices would be free from any form of radical bias
What are the benefits of AA?
- 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
What ideas does AA embody/enforce?
- embodies the idea of equity
- promotes racial tolerance and multiculturalism
How might AA be used?
through the use of quota, universities may reserve a specific percentage of places that they must allocate to black people or to Hispanic people
What is the SC’s relationship with AA?
the SC upholds AA both advancing and regulating AA programmes
Which two presidents have been seen to support AA programmes?
Obama and Biden
Fisher v Texas 2013
Obama affirmed the validity of using race as a factor in determining university admissions
How do presidents show support for AA programs?
often within executive administration and executive orders which leads by example for other organisations and political administration
What executive order did Biden call that supports AA?
- 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
What ongoing case in SC is debating AA?
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
What do the Students for Fair Admissions call for?
a completely blind admissions policy in which nobody knows the race or ethnicity of any applicant
What are the arguments for the use of AA?
- 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
University of California v Bakke 1978
effectively ended the use of quotas declaring it unconstitutional under 14th amendment
Schuette v Coalition to Defend AA 2014
rejected a challenge to Michigan’s right to end AA using a state initative
What are the disadvantages of AA?
- 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
Jim Crow laws
the collective name given to any laws which continued to restrict minority rights
How would states restrict black voting?
using literacy tests and felony voting restrictions
How were the Jim Crow laws overturned?
Voting Rights Act 1965 - prevented any state or local government from creating practices that led to racial discrimination in voting
What is gerrymandering in terms of race called?
majority / minority districts
Give an example of where majority / minority districts were used
in the South - black voter registration was close to zero due to how effective the restrictions were
