Civil Rights

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Civil Rights

Equality and Civil Rights both come together when we talk about Racism and Ethnicity. In "The Declaration Of Independence" states that all men are created equal. There shouldn't be any discrimination against any body. Equality means everyone should be treated the same. As it pertains to civil rights to personal liberty as established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The article by Rachel L.Swarns titled "Have We Over Come" . Talks about what Barack Obama's election says and doesn't say about racial progress in America. People were happy that there was going to be an African American president. Barack Obama received overwhelming support from black voters more than 95 percent of whom cast their ballots for him. But despite that support, some blacks worry that Obama's historic achievements might not be all good news for the civil rights struggle. Racism isn't over just because we have a black president. It might have gotten worse just because of that. We have not achieved equality if we still have a problem with racism how can we all be equal if some people dislike a certain race or won't give a person a job because he is Black or Hispanic.

In the "Pound Cake Speech" Bill Cosby speaks about how parents are raising their kids in today's society. In our public schools we have 50% drop out rate.Why is it that we have such a high drop out rate? Is it because parents don't care any more? This speech fits into the concept of civil rights because it shows people see the African Americans in a certain way. He explains how kids steal for a pound cake or kill for it. Seeing how these kids are having kids without being married and at such a young age its bad. Parenting is doing everything wrong for these kids today. "Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got her dress all the way up to the crack and got all kinds of needles and things going through her body. What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail. (When we give these kinds names to our children, we give them the strength and inspiration in the meaning of those names. What’s the point of giving them strong names if there is not parenting and values backing it up)."

The story of "Harrison Bergeron" gives people a perspective of how in 2081 everyone would be considerd equal."They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General." This short story addresses the idea of civil rights and equality by giving people an idea of how it would be if we were all equal.

The Forerunners poems are about civil rights in their time. The poems represent African American before the Civil Rights Movement. They were the voices of others and they reached out to everyone in their own poems. The poem "I,Too,sing America" by Langston Hughes speaks of a darker brother who eats in the kitchen when visitors are over. This shows how African Americans were treated as slaves they were treated like nothing but in his mind he says he will eat at that table when visitors are over. He thinks to himself maybe one day there will be freedom and blacks and whites can eat together. The poem "We Wear The Mask"by Paul Lawrence Dunbar is about how the blacks wear the mask it hides there feelings behind the mask they smile in the outside but in the inside they are just torn. It shows how they felt being secluded from the whites and not being equal and being treated like the whites.

The obituary of John Hope Franklin Tells us of a Scholar of African American History who influenced thinking of slavery and reconstruction and helped in the Civil Rights struggle. Dr. Franklin worked with Martin Luther King to help end the struggle of African Americans. “Franklin was the first great American historian to reckon the price owed in violence, autocracy and militarism.”He often argued that historians have an important role in shaping policy, a position he put into practice when he worked with Marshall’s team of lawyers in their effort to strike down segregation in the landmark 1954 case Brown vs. Board of Education, which outlawed the doctrine of “separate but equal” in the nation’s public schools. He did many efforts for ending segregation and helping blacks have the same opportunities as whites had. Franklin also participated in the Selma to Montgomery 1965 march with Dr. King. Franklin has been through racial discrimination in his own apartment where he lives.When he wears his suits people don;t look at him in a wrong way but when he wears normal jeans and a shirt white people would stair at him. Him being an elderly man i would think people would be more respectful but i guess not.

President Obamastarts off by saying "Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy". Obama isn't the one to believe there should still be Racism. His father was a Black man from Africa and his mother a white woman from Kansas why would anyone think there should be something wrong with that. I think anyone is entitled to date and marry anyone if he is Black, White, Asian, Hispanic it doesn't matter where we come from we are all the same inside but not out. Obama addresses his opinion against the Declaration Of Independence at a Philadelphia convention.He wonders why is there still a struggle for ending discrimination that why does it state on a document that ideal of equal citizenship under the law a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. Why isn't that people didn't go by their promise why was i broken or not attended. Obama was raised around his White Grandfather and Grandmother he didn't see anything wrong with that but i know many people might of thought of that being wrong.

President Obama's Speech Obama addresses how school is one of the most important things in life and how it opens doorways for everyone one with a good education. He states how we have one of the highest dropout rate and a high school diploma is what we need to find a good job. "Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life. We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students. And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children’s progress." He is trying to save our generation of not having a great job and a great education. Lots of students tend to not attend college because they can't afford it or because they don't have anyone that can help them.

William Julius Wilson He addresses the way people speak about race. He speaks about him being a black man living in a condominium and how people look at him because he lives there and he is a black man. He points out that he also tenses up when he sees black teenagers at night he is also scared of his own culture. Wilson is a professer in Harvard. He writes books about race and ethnicity. In Wilson's most recent book, More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City he directs his attention to the overall concentrated urban poverty of African Americans. He asks the question, "Why do poverty and unequal opportunity persist in the lives of so many African Americans?"

The President tried to address his Beer Summit "Public outrage boiled for a week after Obama said on national TV that police in Cambridge, Mass., “acted stupidly” when they arrested a black professor, implying a racist motive. As details of the incident became clearer, the police were revealed to have acted a lot less stupidly than the Harvard professor in the incident had. So Obama sat down with the professor and his arresting officer, and the three of them drank beer together."

U.S. Approves Settlement For Black Farmers The U.S. decided to announce a 1.25 billion dollars settlement for Black farmers to resolve charges by thousands of black farmers who say that for decades the Agriculture Department discriminated against them in loan programs. The cabinet officials urged congress to approve the deal by setting aside money for the farmers who had fought through three administrations to secure a measure of justice for them. Farmers had lost alot of their property. Obama Administration announced a $1.25 billion settlement in a case brought by thousands of black farmers who were discriminated against federal farm loan programs. The Federal Government was giving a racial policy to black farmers who weren't getting funded to grow their crops.About 11,000 complaints weren't being heard and some farmers even lost their farms.

Duncan will pressure schools to enforce civil rights lawsDuncan says the department's Office for Civil Rights expects to issue a series of guidance letters to educators to address "issues of fairness and equity." He said the department will also announce in coming weeks and months several enforcement actions to ensure that students have equal access to a college-prep curriculum, advanced courses, and classes in math and science. The office of civil rights hasn't been as vigilant as they should trying to address gender and racial discrimination. Duncan will speak about what is going on in Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where civil rights marchers were beaten by state and local police in March 1965. In the school 99% of the kids are Black and 80% are poor. The other schools don't have poverty and most of the are white. The NAAPC filed a complaint on the school boards because they think this a segregation. I think they are doing the right thing because they are trying to give those kids the equality as the other students.

In Conclusion Civil Rights has changed the U.S but there is still segregation in the world today. The schools are segregated many students hangout with their own race and they tend to stick together. The world isn't perfect and I think we will never be able to stop discriminating other people from different ethnicity or background. There is a big difference from how the world was before during the Civil Rights movement and when Blacks were slaves compared to today. Today we dont have slaves due to the constitution but we have hate crimes kids beating up people because they are hispanic or black. Where has the world come to be? why are there young kids 17, 18 year old kids beating up on people maybe is due to the things they watch on t.v. or is the way they were raised.I will never know what is that people are thinking when they do these things but people should be punished.