Post-Civil rights Movement: Difference between revisions
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After the Rodney King beaten in March of 1991 by four officers in California. The officers accused said King appeared to be high on something and charged at them.When the four officers were acquitted in 1992 after the beating,the first race riots in decades erupted in South-Central Los Angeles city within hours following the jury's verdict. In the four days of violence in South Central Los Angeles, 55 people were killed, 2,383 others injured and more than 8,000 arrested. Damage to property was $1 billion. Rodney King spoke out saying "Can we all get along?" in an effort to help bring an end to the race riots. | After the Rodney King beaten in March of 1991 by four officers in California. The officers accused said King appeared to be high on something and charged at them.When the four officers were acquitted in 1992 after the beating,the first race riots in decades erupted in South-Central Los Angeles city within hours following the jury's verdict. In the four days of violence in South Central Los Angeles, 55 people were killed, 2,383 others injured and more than 8,000 arrested. Damage to property was $1 billion. Rodney King spoke out saying "Can we all get along?" in an effort to help bring an end to the race riots. | ||
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On June 23, 2003, The Supreme Court of the United States held that the law school admissions policy of the University of Michigan was constitutional, however the undergraduate school admissions policy was not. The ruling in effect affirmed the lone dictum of Justice Lewis Powell's (University of California Regents v. Bakke, 1978) assertion of twenty-five years ago that "race matters" and now had it speak for the majority of the court. The ruling states that race could be one element in a complex of many elements. For an example SAT scores and class standing, but it could not be a definitive element, unlike the terminated policy of the undergraduate admissions system which awarded a numerical weight to race and was considered a quota by the court. Moreover, the court envisioned a 25 year time limit to its ruling and expected that a future court would look unfavorably on extending that deadline. | On June 23, 2003, The Supreme Court of the United States held that the law school admissions policy of the University of Michigan was constitutional, however the undergraduate school admissions policy was not. The ruling in effect affirmed the lone dictum of Justice Lewis Powell's (University of California Regents v. Bakke, 1978) assertion of twenty-five years ago that "race matters" and now had it speak for the majority of the court. The ruling states that race could be one element in a complex of many elements. For an example SAT scores and class standing, but it could not be a definitive element, unlike the terminated policy of the undergraduate admissions system which awarded a numerical weight to race and was considered a quota by the court. Moreover, the court envisioned a 25 year time limit to its ruling and expected that a future court would look unfavorably on extending that deadline. | ||
In 2005 Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks dies at the age of 92. | |||
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In 2006 Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dies at the age of 78 of a stroke. Mrs. King had moved into the forefront of the civil rights movement after the passing of her husband in 1968. | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:19, 4 May 2006
In 1931, in the famous Scottsboro Boys case, nine young black men were arrested for the rape of two white girls in Alabama. The black men were brought to trial and found guilty, even though one of the girls admitted that the rape never occurred. This trial went through a number of appeals and eventually most of the men were freed, but only after all nine of them served prison terms. In all fairness to the South of 1931, I do not think anyone would disagree that if two black women had been raped in Alabama in 1931 and accused nine young white men and boys, there would have been no trial. Maybe the Mississippi Burning trial shows at least the progression of the Civil Rights Movement in America and that if there was such a rape in Alabama in 1967, there is a good possibility that there would have been a trial.
The Mississippi incident has had a lasting effect on our society. After the murder of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney, the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. This made investigation of Civil Rights crimes a federal matter rather than a local matter. The Act was passed in part because if such crimes were left to local law enforcement, especially in states like Mississippi where segregation flourished and civil rights workers were demonized, proper justice would never be done.
An Example of the 1964 Act’s reach was the 1995 conviction of the Ku Klux Klan for conspiracy to burn down the Macedonia Baptist Church. “In the largest judgment ever awarded against a hate group, a jury here on July 24 ordered the Christrian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, its states leader and four other Klansmen to pay $37.8 Million for their roles in a conspiracy to burn a black church.” (Brinker p1) Though no members of the Ku Klux Klan were sentenced, to prison terms, the $37.8 Million fine is substantial. While it might not seem to some to be enough punishment for such a heinous crime, it is significant because the Ku Klux Klan does not have enough money to pay the fine, and without the money to promulgate their hateful messages. The Ku Klux Klan’s influence over Americans has certainly been weakened
In 1991 after two years of debate, vetoes and threatened vetoes, Bush reverses himself and says proposed civil rights bill is not a "quota bill." On Nov. 22, he signs the legislation at a White House ceremony. However the ceremony is overshadowed by reports that the president has proposed issuing a presidential order that would end all government affirmative action programs and hiring guidelines that benefit women and minorities. After sharp negative reactions from civil rights leaders and others, the administration backs down.
After the Rodney King beaten in March of 1991 by four officers in California. The officers accused said King appeared to be high on something and charged at them.When the four officers were acquitted in 1992 after the beating,the first race riots in decades erupted in South-Central Los Angeles city within hours following the jury's verdict. In the four days of violence in South Central Los Angeles, 55 people were killed, 2,383 others injured and more than 8,000 arrested. Damage to property was $1 billion. Rodney King spoke out saying "Can we all get along?" in an effort to help bring an end to the race riots.
On June 23, 2003, The Supreme Court of the United States held that the law school admissions policy of the University of Michigan was constitutional, however the undergraduate school admissions policy was not. The ruling in effect affirmed the lone dictum of Justice Lewis Powell's (University of California Regents v. Bakke, 1978) assertion of twenty-five years ago that "race matters" and now had it speak for the majority of the court. The ruling states that race could be one element in a complex of many elements. For an example SAT scores and class standing, but it could not be a definitive element, unlike the terminated policy of the undergraduate admissions system which awarded a numerical weight to race and was considered a quota by the court. Moreover, the court envisioned a 25 year time limit to its ruling and expected that a future court would look unfavorably on extending that deadline.
In 2005 Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks dies at the age of 92.
In 2006 Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., dies at the age of 78 of a stroke. Mrs. King had moved into the forefront of the civil rights movement after the passing of her husband in 1968.
