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Minorities in America

Minorities in America. Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities & Other Groups . Asian Americans – past de jure discrimination laws: California discrimination laws of 1850s Exclusion Act of 1882 & 1892 (Anti-Chinese) Gentlemen’s Agreement Between Theodore Roosevelt & Japan

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Minorities in America

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  1. Minorities in America

  2. Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities & Other Groups • Asian Americans – past de jure discrimination laws: • California discrimination laws of 1850s • Exclusion Act of 1882 & 1892 (Anti-Chinese) • Gentlemen’s Agreement Between Theodore Roosevelt & Japan • California laws barring land ownership by Asians • WWII Internment Camps for citizens of Japanese descent • Upheld by Supreme Court- 1944- (later Congress apologized) • Educational & economic success in spite of above • Growing political influence evident

  3. American Indians • Population decline: • From 70 million => 210K => 2.2 million • (Pre-Columbus => following European Colonization => today) • Brutal history of past discrimination & repression • Trail of Tears & regular relocation by Federal Government • Numerous Treaty violations to take Indian lands • Vicious Indian Wars (1864 & 1890) • “Battle” of Wounded Knee (1890)- • US Army massacred Indian prisoners • Supreme Court decision of 1884 => • Court rules Indians not U.S. citizens • American Indian Movement (AIM) • Alcatraz Island occupation • (Treaty entitlement of abandoned Federal Lands) • Wounded Knee Hostage crisis (1973) => • Resulting in violence & death • Gradual improvement with time?

  4. Gradual improvements • Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 • American Indians finally granted citizenship • Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 • Applied Bill of Rights to American Indians • Supreme Court rulings favor Indian claims recently: • $17.1 M+ interest for claims against Federal Gov. • Special hunting & fishing rights upheld • Special status for gambling for California tribe • Congress: Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (States) • If state allows gambling=> must give Indians same rights

  5. The Quest for Equal Justice • Hispanics have suffered discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, and education, and have faced harsh treatment from police and other government officials • Repatriation • Zoot Suit Riots • High school walk outs • May Day Riot in Los Angeles • Racial Profiling with Immigration • raids • English Only laws • Dream Act Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association

  6. Hispanic Americans • Now largest American minority (14+%) • California & Texas de jure discrimination laws • Long history of past discrimination • Bilingual education debate • (Spanish or English?) • Immigration Acts & Reforms: • Illegal alien issue of continuing concern for those on both sides • Laws enacted against hiring illegal aliens • Potential Job discrimination by employers • Economic demand for low wage labor unabated

  7. Discrimination Against Women • 19th Century paternalisticattitude of men • Reflected by Supreme Court Decisions of 1800s: • Court’s attitude: comply with “…law of the Creator.” • Prevailing middle class attitude: Homemaker • Campaigning for the Right to Vote: • Women’s movement– Seneca Falls Declaration • Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott’s were key leaders • Declaration of Sentiments • Women also supported Abolition & latersuffragefor African Americans • Aim: Gain own suffrage in the process • Suffragecampaign for women => • Struggle for right to vote (1860 -1920) • Finally culminating in what Amendment? • 19th Amendment

  8. Women’s Movement-1950’s Why did many women feel frustrated with their lives in the 1950s? The traditional idea that a woman’s role was a homemaker raising her family was very important in 1950s USA. Newspaper and magazine articles encouraged women to return to the home. Popular TV shows such as 'I Love Lucy' and 'Father Knows Best' carried this message into homes. Many women decided there was more to life than babies, dishes and happy husbands.

  9. “The Pill” (1960) Allowed women greater reproductive freedom Early on, access was limited to married women only in many states  “Sexual Revolution”

  10. Women’s Fight for Equal Rights Continues: • Impact of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan • Spoke to frustration felt by many women of 1960s • Women’s Movement reemerged during 1960s • Women questioned society’s long established roles for them • Civil rights movement provided strategy & tactics to follow: • N.O.W. pursued economic improvement for women • Sought passage of Equal Pay Act of 1963 • (with mixed results)

  11. Betty Friedan: “The Mother of Modern Feminism” (1963) How Men Benefit from Women’s Liberation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfgxHKli9CU stop at 1:37

  12. NOW: National Organization for Women (1966) Goals: -more child care facilities -improved educational opportunities for women -bans on discrimination in job ads and hiring practices

  13. Title IX (prohibits sex discrimination in education)

  14. Abortion • Roe v. Wade: struck down a Texas ban on abortion (and all similar state laws) • Woman’s freedom to choose is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment • Webster (1989): The Court upheld some restrictions on abortions • Casey decision (1992) does not overturn Roe but permits more restrictions: 24-hour wait, parental consent, pamphlets about alternatives

  15. Equal Right Amendment (E.R.A.) (1972) Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

  16. Phyllis Schlafly – STOP E.R.A. The ERA is the work of radical feminists who “hate men, marriage, and children” and whose oppression existed “only in their distorted minds.” • Women like Schlafly feared: • ERA would result in a female draft • ERA would result in the breakdown of the family • ERA would enable husbands to leave wives without $$ support • ERA would lead to the elimination of separate bathrooms and other public facilities

  17. Congressional Actions in Response • Congress enacted key legislation against discrimination against women: • Title 9 of Higher Education Act of 1972 => impact? • Other Legislation advancing women’s rights: • Equal Opportunity Credit Act of 1974 • Able to obtainloans in own name • 1978: Congress prohibited job discrimination • Barred discrimination against women for pregnancy • Family & Medical Leave Act (1993) (Clinton’s support) • Violence Against Women Act (1994) • Law aimed at anti-domestic violence • Congress strengthened above act in 2000 over Court action • ERA Amendment fell short of ratification

  18. Struggle Against Sex Discrimination Continues: • Women (51% population) still remain in “minority” when it comes to Government, Public, & Corporate leadership positions, to include equal pay: • 18.3% make up Congressional membership in 2013 (98 of 535) • 3 in 9 at the Supreme Court & 23% of all Federal Judges • Senate-20 out of 100 • As yet - no woman has been elected president or VP of US • Women still underrepresented as faculty members at College/Universities • Comprise only 15% of University Deans • Women comprise 34% of law school faculties

  19. Percent of Bachelor’s Degrees Awarded by Gender

  20. Private Sector Discrimination • In private sector hampered on the Corporate ladder • Few have risen to CEO level of major corporations - why? • Woman often encounter the invisible “Glass Ceiling” • Need larger middle executive base to draw on for upper levels • Pay gap: Women make less than men • Women lawyers make only 35% of their high ranking male counterparts • Women themselves disagree among themselves over goals & strategy • Many argue that Affirmative Action & gender equality may ultimately deprive them of key protections • (Special consideration during divorce & child custody suits)

  21. Extending Civil Rights • People with Disabilities: major legislation • Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: • Minimize job discrimination, to maximize access to government programs, & ensure access to public accommodations for people with disabilities • ADA benefits vs. costs to businesses must be weighed • People with Age Claims • Age Discrimination Act of 1975 • Businesses & others can’t discriminate against the Old • Potential discrimination against young people? • Acts of Congress & Courts seem to favor old over young

  22. APA • April, 1952: • The American Psychiatric Association lists homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance in its first publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. • December 15, 1973: • The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

  23. Laws--- • January 1, 1962: Illinois repeals its sodomy laws, becoming the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality • March 2, 1982: Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. • February 2009 Vermont is the first state to legalize gay marriage

  24. Gays and Lesbians • 1991: Clinton’s support for gay rights rebuffed by Congress • “Gays in Military” policy strongly resisted by military professionals • Compromise policy resulted: => “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…” • Continued with George W. Bush Administration with mixed results • Major controversial issue: Gay Marriage and/or Civil Unions: • 1993: Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that w/o compelling gov. reason=> • State ban on homosexual marriage would be declared unconstitutional • 1996: In reaction - Congress passed Defense of Marriage Act (DMA) • Several states enact laws to prohibit recognition of gay marriages • 1998: Hawaii ratified Constitutional Amendment (ban gay marriages) • 2000: Vermont enacted law allowing same-sex civil unions • 2004: Massachusetts Supreme Court issued its “advisory decision” • In reaction President Bush issued a call for Constitutional Amendment • 2008: California Supreme Court struck down state’s ban on same-sex marriage • Implications of Article IV (Full Faith and credit clause)? • Key Question for Courts:Prop 8 and DOMA • Entire issue hotly debated

  25. Gays and Lesbians Continued • June 17, 2009 • President Obama signs a Presidential Memorandum allowing same-sex partners of federal employees to receive certain benefits. The memorandum does not cover full health coverage. • October 28, 2009 • The Matthew Shepard Act is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on October 28th. The measure expands the 1969 U.S. Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. 

  26. 2010 • August 4, 2010- • A federal judge in San Francisco decides that gays and lesbians have the constitutional right to marry and that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Lawyers will challenge the finding. • December 18, 2010- • The U.S. Senate votes 65-31 to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Military.

  27. 2012 • May 9, President Barack Obama endorses same-sex marriage. "It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,“

  28. Nov. 6, 2013 Tammy Baldwin a seven-term Democratic congresswoman from Wisconsin, prevails over former governor Tommy Thompson in the race for U.S. Senate and becomes the first openly gay politician elected to the Senate

  29. The Gay Rights Movement • Blossomed in U.S. in 1969 w/ the Stonewall riot • Police raided a gay bar, the Stonewall, (raids were common at the time), and the bar’s patrons fought back --started a riot that didn’t end until the following day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4gt6UFvva0 • Gay Pride week and parades are held yearly in June to commemorate Stonewall • This year, NY parade is June 28

  30. After the November 27, 1978, assassination of San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, demand for the rainbow flag greatly increased. To speed production, the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped because of unavailability of the fabric. Originally 8 colors: Pink = sexuality Red = life Orange = healing Yellow = sunlight Green = nature Turquoise = magic Indigo = serenity Violet = spirit

  31. AIDS July 3, 1981 The New York Times prints the first story of a rare pneumonia and skin cancer found in 41 gay men in New York and California. The CDC initially refers to the disease as GRID, Gay Related Immune Deficiency Disorder. When the symptoms are found outside the gay community, Bruce Voeller, biologist and founder of the National Gay Task Force, successfully lobbies to change the name of the disease to AIDS.

  32. AIDS Quilt: an enormous memorial to people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing 54 tons, it is the largest piece of community folk art in the world

  33. August 18, 1990-Ryan White President George Bush signs the Ryan White Care Act, a federally funded program for people living with AIDS. Ryan White, an Indiana teenager, contracted AIDS in 1984 through a tainted hemophilia treatment. After being barred from attending school because of his HIV-positive status, Ryan White becomes a well-known activist for AIDS research and anti-discrimination.

  34. Rainbow Flag • a.k.a. Pride Flag or Gay Pride Flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride. • First flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. • Design likely inspired by Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRa4X07jdE

  35. Societal Attitudes (U.S.) • Early to mid-1900s societal shift: from sinner to sickness • Drastic attempts used to “cure” homosexuality, including castration, lobotomy, drugs, hormones, hypnosis, electroshock treatment, and aversion therapy (pairing shock or nausea-induction w/homosexual stimuli) • no differences in psychological adjustment between gays & straights (if person has accepted their homosexuality) • sexual reorientation therapy (aka conversion therapy) doesn’t work but gay affirmative therapy is helpful

  36. TV Shows • SOAP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_K3K_dEFlQ • Will and Grace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr5DOdTnVUE • GLEE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRPMvxyFcs8

  37. Hate crime laws • Increased sentences for assault, robbery, and murder that are committed because the victim is of a particular race, religion, ethnic group, or sexual orientation (not all states include protections based on sexual orientation)

  38. Civil Unions Austria Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Hungary Iceland Switzerland United Kingdom Uruguay Colombia New Zealand Equador Greenland Colo, Hawaii, Maine, NJ, NV, Oreg, Wash, Wisc Same-sex marriages Portugal Belgium Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Canada South Africa Conn, Iowa, Mass., New Hamp., Vermont, D.C., Calif.

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