diversity and discrimination in american society: 21.1

Diversity and Discrimination in American Society:

21.1

A Heterogeneous Society:

• Something that is heterogeneous is composed of mix ingredients.

• Historically white have made up a majority of the U.S. population.

• However, that is changing as immigrants have arrived in near-record numbers every year since the mid 1960’s.

Race-Based Discrimination:

• White Americans have been historically reluctant to give nonwhites a full and equal place in the social, economic, and political life.

• Ethnic prejudice has changed over time.(ex:) African Americans, Native American, Asian American and Hispanic Americans.

• The white-male-dominated power structure has been slow to recognize the claims of women as well.

African Americans:

• Second largest minority group in the U.S.-40 million Americans (13% of the U.S. pop.)

• Victims of consistent and deliberate unjust treatment for longer than any other group.-Most of their ancestor arrived here as slaves.

• Responsible for most of the gains in equality for all minority groups.

Native Americans:

• In the 1700’s, around one million Native Americans were living here.

• By the 1900’s their numbers had fallen to less than 250,000.- caused by disease, military attacks, and westward expansion.

• Today there are around 2.8 million, mostly on reservations.

Reservations: public lands that are set aside by the government for use by Native American tribes.

• Problems surrounding reservations include: poverty, joblessness, and alcoholism.

• Like African Americans, Native Americans have been the victims of overwhelming discrimination.

Hispanic Americans:

• Hispanic Americans are those in this country who have a Spanish-speaking background.-Many prefer to be called Latino.

• Today, they make up the largest minority group in the U.S. - 45 million

• Replaced African Americans as the largest minority in 2000.

• Hispanics are generally divided into 4 groups:1. Mexican Americans (Southwest U.S.)2. Puerto Ricans (Northeastern U.S.)3. Cuban Americans (Miami/Southern Florida)4. Central and South Americans (refugees)Refugees: are people who seek protection from

war, persecution, or some other danger.

Asian Americans:• Asian Immigrants include people from:

-philippines, China, Korea, Vietnam, and India.• Today, this group makes up about 15 million and is

the nations fastest growing minority group.• As with all immigrants, assimilation in the white-

dominated population has been difficult.• Assimilation: when people of one culture merge

into and become part of another culture.

• Chinese laborers were the first to come to the U.S. in large numbers. (1850’s)-worked in mines build railroads in the West.

• Many whites resented competition of the Asian labor and used acts of violence to express their anger.

• Congress almost stopped all Chinese immigration with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

• Congress has made changes to its immigration policy, and since 1965, around 9 million Asian immigrants have come to the U.S.

Bell Work:

• What is the largest minority group in the U.S.?• What is the second largest minority group in

the U.S.?

Equality Before the Law:

21.2

Equal Protection Clause:• The only thing in the Constitution that comes

close to mentioning equality can be found in the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause- “No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law”.

• These words were intended to benefit newly freed slaves.

• Over time, they have come to mean that States and local governments cannot draw reasonable distinction between people.

Reasonable Classification:

• The government can classify people and groups. -Otherwise it would be impossible to regulate behavior.

ex: taxes on smokers.• Supreme court often uses the rational basis

test to help decide equal protection cases.- Does it make sense.

Strict Scrutiny Test:

• The Court imposes a higher standard in some equal protection cases.1. cases involving fundamental rights

-voting, speech, religion2. cases based on subject classification

-race, sex, or national origin(ex:) Orr v. Orr 1979

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Segregation in America:• Segregation- the separation of one group from

another.ex: Jim Crow laws (Mostly aimed at blacks)

• Separate-but-equal doctrine : laws that segregated individuals by race "for the public good“, If the accommodations were equal there was no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

• Supreme Courts said this didn’t violate the equal protection clause.

De Jure and De Facto Segregation:

• De jure segregation: segregation by law.(ex:) law requiring separate public facilities for whites and blacks.

• De facto segregation: Segregation without a law requiring it.(ex:) Housing patterns of African Americans in certain sections of cities.

Segregation in Other Fields:

• Many State and local laws requiring segregation have been repealed or struck down by the courts.-Supreme Court has found segregation by race to be unconstitutional in other areas besides education.-Equal Protection Clause = no segregation.

ex: Struck down all miscegenation laws.

Classification by Sex:• Gender has often been used as a basis of

classification in law.-laws treated men and women differently.

(ex:) men had to serve jury duty, while women had a choice.

-intended to protect “the weaker sex”.• Supreme Court did not find any sex-based

classifications to be unconstitutional until 1971 (Reed v. Reed)

Bell Work:

• What almost stopped all immigration of the Chinese in the 1880’s?

A. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Federal Civil Rights Laws:

21.3

Civil Rights:• From the 1840’s to the late 1950’s, Congress

didn’t pass any important civil rights legislation.-White population was unaware/ unconcerned with problems facing minorities.-Southern white democrats held important post in Congress.

• Things changed in 1957 with the beginning of the civil rights movement.– Led by Martin Luther King Jr.

• In that year, Congress passed a number of Civil Rights laws.– Civil Rights Acts of: 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968.– Voting Rights Acts of: 1965, 1970, 1975, and 1982.

Civil Rights Act of 1964:

• One of the most important Civil Rights legislation passed during this period.

• Beyond its voting rights provisions, the 1964 laws also outlaws discrimination in several other areas.1. No person denied service in public places based

on race, color, religion, national origin, or physical disability.

2. Prohibit discrimination against any person on the grounds of race, color, sex, religion, national origin or disability in any program that receives federal funding.

- funding would be cut-off.3. Forbid employers and labor unions to discriminate

against any persons, based on the above criteria, in a job-related matters.

Civil Rights Act of 1968:• This act is often referred to as, “The Open

Housing Act”.- forbids anyone to refuse to sell or rent a house based on the previous mentioned items.

• However, housing still remains one of the most segregated areas of American life today.(ex:) 8 mile rd.

Affirmative Action:

• All of the Civil Rights legislation is aimed at preventing discrimination.

• What about the people who have been discriminated in the past?(ex:) didn’t get a decent education, so they can’t get a decent job.

• Congress’s answer to this question has been a policy of affirmative action.

• Affirmative action: policy that requires most employers to take positive steps to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

• Requires federal and private employers that do business with any federal agency to adopt affirmative action.(ex:) advertisement of job openings, guideline to prevent future discrimination, pay, promotions, and benefits.

• The most controversial requirement of affirmative action is the following:- The workforce must reflect the population of the area.

• This has meant that many employers have had to hire or promote more workers with minority backgrounds.- often called quotas.

• Critics of affirmative action often say it amounts to nothing more than reverse racism.- preference based on sex or race.

California V. Bakke

Bell Work: 4/15/12

• What is affirmative action?

American Citizenship:

21.4

Citizenship:

• Some 260 million Americans, are American citizens because they were born here.

• Another several million are also citizens by birth, even though they were born in another country.

• Citizenship at birth is determined by either jus soli, or jus sanguinis.

• Jus soli: law of the soil, or where one is born.• If a person is born in any of the 50 States, or

U.S. territory, they are considered a natural born citizen.- Also includes American embassies abroad.

• Until 1924, Native Americans born to tribal members were not citizens.- Considered under the legal guardianship of the government.

• Jus sanguinis: is the law of the blood, or to whom one is born.

• A child born abroad can become and American citizen at birth under certain circumstances.1.) both parents are American citizens and at least one has lived in the U.S. at some time. (territory included)

2.) One parent is a citizen who has lived in the U.S for at least 10 years, 5 of them after the age of 14.

-Child must also live within the U.S. continuously for at least 5 years between the ages of 14 and 28.

• The 14th Amendment does not provide for jus sanguinis, but Congress has included it since 1790

Citizenship by Naturalization:• Naturalization: is the legal process by which a

person becomes a citizen of another country.• Congress has the exclusive power to provide

for naturalization.• Individual naturalization is when one person is

being naturalized. (conducted by the court.)• Collective naturalization is when an entire

group is being naturalized. - happens when the U.S. claims a new territory.

Loss of Citizenship:

• Although it rarely happens, every American citizen has the right to renounce their citizenship.

• Expatriation: is the legal process by which a loss of citizenship occurs.- Congress cannot take away a person’s citizenship for something they have done.

• However, a person can lose their citizenship involuntarily.

• This is called denaturalization, and can only occur:1.) With a court order.2.) It has been shown a person became a citizen by fraud or deception.

• A person can neither gain nor lose American citizenship by marriage.– Only shortens the time it takes to become a

citizen.

A Nation of Immigrants:

• We are a nation of immigrants.• Except for the Native Americans, all of us have

come here from other countries.- 70 million immigrants have come here from other countries since 1820.

Regulation of Immigration:• Congress has the exclusive power to regulate

immigration.• It alone has the power to decide who may be

admitted and under what condidtions.• The power to control the nations borders is an

inherent power.- Congress place the first real restriction on immigration with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

• Over the next several years, a list of “undesirables” was added to the law.- convicts, immoral persons, anarchists, and illiterates. (qualitative limits)- By 1920, more than 30 groups were denied admission on the basis of personal traits.

• Congress responded to the call for tighter regulation by adding quantitative limits.- quotas on the numbers of immigrants from each country each year.

Present Immigration Policies:

• Immigration Act of 1990:-set a limit of 675,000 immigrants each year- family-first preferences-those who have occupational talents preferred.

• Excludes:- criminals, mentally ill, people with diseases, drug addicts and drug abusers.

• Some 20 million non-immigrants also come here each year for temporary stays.-Tourist-Students-People traveling for business.

• Deportation:-the legal process in which aliens are required to

leave the U.S.1. U.S. has complete authority2. not a criminal punishment, so it doesn’t require a trial.

Current Law:

• The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986:1. created a one year amnesty program in which undocumented/illegal aliens can become citizens.2.Made it a crime for an employer to hire an illegal immigrant.

-not regularly enforced