Record 10,392 Complaints, 3,000-Plus Investigations Launched, More Than 1,000 Key Resolutions Reached
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights today released its fiscal year 2015 annual report highlighting efforts during the last year to protect students’ civil rights and increase educational equity nationwide.
Read the story here.
Showing posts with label civil rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil rights. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Announces Date for Briefing Related to its Report, Public Education Funding Inequality in an Era of Increasing Concentration of Poverty and Resegregation
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Announces Date for Briefing Related to its Report, Public Education Funding Inequality in an Era of Increasing Concentration of Poverty and Resegregation
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced today that it will hold a public briefing on Friday, May 20, 2016, to examine the funding of K-12 education and how the inequitable distribution of these funds negatively and disproportionately impact the educational opportunities of low-income and minority students. The briefing will also address how the practice of underfunding public schools has exacerbated the academic achievement gap in an era where the nation's most vulnerable children are increasingly educated in highly segregated and under-resourced schools.
Read the press release here.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Harriet Tubman to Replace Andrew Jackson on $20 Bill
By Alexandra Vollman, INSIGHT Into Diversity
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced Wednesday that former President Andrew Jackson, who was a slaveholder, will be replaced on the $20 bill by abolitionist Harriet Tubman, an African American woman who helped hundreds of slaves to freedom during the mid-1800s. She will be the second woman and the first African American to be featured on U.S. paper currency.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced Wednesday that former President Andrew Jackson, who was a slaveholder, will be replaced on the $20 bill by abolitionist Harriet Tubman, an African American woman who helped hundreds of slaves to freedom during the mid-1800s. She will be the second woman and the first African American to be featured on U.S. paper currency.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Harriet Tubman to Be New Face of $20 Bill; MLK and Marian Anderson to Be Honored on Back of New $5 Bill (The Root)
- Treasury Secretary Lew Announces Front of New $20 to Feature Harriet Tubman, Lays Out Plans for New $20, $10 and $5 (U.S. Department of Treasury)
- Harriet Tubman Ousts Andrew Jackson in Change for a $20 (The New York Times)
- Harriet Tubman is the next face of the $20 bill; $5 and $10 bills will also change (Los Angeles Times)
- The irony of putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill (The Washington Post)
- Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson on $20 bill (USA Today)
- Harriet Tubman Change Face of U.S. Currency (DiversityInc)
Monday, March 14, 2016
Dr. Quentin Young, Chicago activist for civil rights and public health, dies at 92
By Marwa Eltagouri, Chicago Tribune
Dr. Quentin Young, a champion of civil rights and public health reform who was chairman of medicine at Cook County Hospital during a tumultuous period in the 1970s, died Monday, according to his family.
Read the story here.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Civil Rights Leader, Politician Georgia Davis Powers Dies
Associated Press
Georgia Davis Powers, a giant in the fight for civil rights in Kentucky and the first African-American woman elected to the state Senate, has died. She was 92.
Read the story here.
Georgia Davis Powers, a giant in the fight for civil rights in Kentucky and the first African-American woman elected to the state Senate, has died. She was 92.
Read the story here.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Daisy Elliott, Detroiter behind Michigan civil rights law, dies
By Mark Hicks and Chad Livengood, The Detroit News
Daisy Elliott, an African-American civil rights advocate and former Michigan representative who helped push through a landmark law aimed at protecting against racial bias as well as other forms of discrimination, has died at age 98, friends and family announced late Tuesday.
Daisy Elliott, an African-American civil rights advocate and former Michigan representative who helped push through a landmark law aimed at protecting against racial bias as well as other forms of discrimination, has died at age 98, friends and family announced late Tuesday.
Read the story here.
Longtime civil rights activist Ozell Sutton dead at 90
Mark Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ozell Sutton, a longtime civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died Saturday. He was 90.
Ozell Sutton, a longtime civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died Saturday. He was 90.
Sutton, friends said, may have been one of the most unknown of a cadre of influential civil rights workers.
In 1957, in the early, unsettled days of school desegregation, he helped enroll nine African-American students at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. In 1965, he marched for equal rights in Selma, Ala., confronting angry police. Three years later, in 1968, he was in a Memphis hotel room adjacent to King’s when the minister was assassinated.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King ally Ozell Sutton dies aged 90 (The Associated Press)
- Civil-rights leader, Arkansas native Ozell Sutton dies at 90 (Arkansas Online)
Monday, December 21, 2015
Black parents protest charge for teen tossed from desk
Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A group of black parents and civil rights activists presented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being yanked from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police officer in her classroom.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A group of black parents and civil rights activists presented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being yanked from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police officer in her classroom.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Executive Order 11246 Celebrates 50 Years
By Shirley Wilcher
On June 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the commencement address, titled “To Fulfill These Rights,” at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C. Johnson gave this speech three months before signing Executive Order (EO) 11246, the law that bars employment discrimination and requires affirmative action to promote equal employment opportunity at federal contractor facilities.
Read the story here.
On June 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the commencement address, titled “To Fulfill These Rights,” at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C. Johnson gave this speech three months before signing Executive Order (EO) 11246, the law that bars employment discrimination and requires affirmative action to promote equal employment opportunity at federal contractor facilities.
Read the story here.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Statement by the President on the Passing of Civil Rights Leader Fred Shuttleswo
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 05, 2011
Statement by the President on the Passing of Civil Rights Leader Fred Shuttlesworth
Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth today. As one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Reverend Shuttlesworth dedicated his life to advancing the cause of justice for all Americans. He was a testament to the strength of the human spirit. And today we stand on his shoulders, and the shoulders of all those who marched and sat and lifted their voices to help perfect our union.
I will never forget having the opportunity several years ago to push Reverend Shuttlesworth in his wheelchair across the Edmund Pettus Bridge – a symbol of the sacrifices that he and so many others made in the name of equality. America owes Reverend Shuttlesworth a debt of gratitude, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sephira, and their family, friends and loved ones.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/05/statement-president-passing-civil-rights-leader-fred-shuttlesworth
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 05, 2011
Statement by the President on the Passing of Civil Rights Leader Fred Shuttlesworth
Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth today. As one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Reverend Shuttlesworth dedicated his life to advancing the cause of justice for all Americans. He was a testament to the strength of the human spirit. And today we stand on his shoulders, and the shoulders of all those who marched and sat and lifted their voices to help perfect our union.
I will never forget having the opportunity several years ago to push Reverend Shuttlesworth in his wheelchair across the Edmund Pettus Bridge – a symbol of the sacrifices that he and so many others made in the name of equality. America owes Reverend Shuttlesworth a debt of gratitude, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sephira, and their family, friends and loved ones.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/05/statement-president-passing-civil-rights-leader-fred-shuttlesworth
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
E-Verify Initiatives Include Discrimination Referrals
Lexology
Ogletree Deakins
USA April 23 2010
Approximately 192,000 employers are now participating in E-Verify, the electronic employment eligibility verification system operated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Following the release of a report detailing some continuing issues with the E-Verify system (see the report in the March 2010 issue of the Immigration eAuthority), USCIS issued a fact sheet outlining a series of initiatives designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of E-Verify. In addition to providing employee and employer civil rights and civil liberties videos and establishing an employee hotline for inquiries, issues and complaints regarding E-Verify, USCIS announced an agreement with the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Council for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) to refer allegations involving potential discrimination gleaned from E-Verify.
Full Story:
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=76f6a5fe-06f1-42fd-ac88-49f29cf39c9d&utm_source=Lexology%20Daily%20Newsfeed&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Lexology%20subscriber%20daily%20feed&utm_content=Lexology%20Daily%20Newsfeed%202010-04-28&utm_term=
Ogletree Deakins
USA April 23 2010
Approximately 192,000 employers are now participating in E-Verify, the electronic employment eligibility verification system operated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Following the release of a report detailing some continuing issues with the E-Verify system (see the report in the March 2010 issue of the Immigration eAuthority), USCIS issued a fact sheet outlining a series of initiatives designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of E-Verify. In addition to providing employee and employer civil rights and civil liberties videos and establishing an employee hotline for inquiries, issues and complaints regarding E-Verify, USCIS announced an agreement with the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Council for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) to refer allegations involving potential discrimination gleaned from E-Verify.
Full Story:
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=76f6a5fe-06f1-42fd-ac88-49f29cf39c9d&utm_source=Lexology%20Daily%20Newsfeed&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Lexology%20subscriber%20daily%20feed&utm_content=Lexology%20Daily%20Newsfeed%202010-04-28&utm_term=
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks dies
CNN.com
By Mark Bixler, CNN
April 15, 2010 10:50 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks led NAACP from 1977 to 1992
The cause of Hooks' death was not immediately known, NAACP official says
Hooks received Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2007
World War II service deepened "resolve to do something about bigotry in the South," bio says
(CNN) -- Benjamin L. Hooks, a civil rights leader who led the NAACP from 1977 to 1992, has died, said the vice president for communication at the NAACP.
The cause of death was not immediately known, the NAACP's Leila McDowell said Thursday.
Hooks was "a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States," said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, Hooks grew up in the segregated South.
Hooks served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he "found himself in the humiliating position of guarding Italian prisoners of war who were allowed to eat in restaurants that were off limits to him. The experience helped to deepen his resolve to do something about bigotry in the South," according to a biography published by the University of Memphis, where he was a professor in the political science department.
He also was a lawyer and an ordained Baptist minister who joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and led the NAACP for 15 years.
Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/15/obit.benjamin.hooks/index.html
By Mark Bixler, CNN
April 15, 2010 10:50 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks led NAACP from 1977 to 1992
The cause of Hooks' death was not immediately known, NAACP official says
Hooks received Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2007
World War II service deepened "resolve to do something about bigotry in the South," bio says
(CNN) -- Benjamin L. Hooks, a civil rights leader who led the NAACP from 1977 to 1992, has died, said the vice president for communication at the NAACP.
The cause of death was not immediately known, the NAACP's Leila McDowell said Thursday.
Hooks was "a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the United States," said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, Hooks grew up in the segregated South.
Hooks served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he "found himself in the humiliating position of guarding Italian prisoners of war who were allowed to eat in restaurants that were off limits to him. The experience helped to deepen his resolve to do something about bigotry in the South," according to a biography published by the University of Memphis, where he was a professor in the political science department.
He also was a lawyer and an ordained Baptist minister who joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and led the NAACP for 15 years.
Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/15/obit.benjamin.hooks/index.html
Monday, December 21, 2009
Scholar Renders Deft History of Civil Rights Era
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Kendal Weaver, Associated Press Writer , December 21, 2009
Even after nearly 50 years, the names bear repeating: Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Ezell Blair and Joseph McNeil.
They were freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University on Feb. 1, 1960, when they took their seats at the Whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro. Four young Blacks tired of segregation laws, they were refused service and asked to leave. But they remained until the counter closed, and when they walked back to their dorm exhilarated, they had set in motion an act of civil disobedience - the sit-in - that took the civil rights movement by storm.
The next day, 25 sit-in protesters showed up. Then 63 filled all but two seats at Woolworth's. The protest spilled over to the nearby Kress department store, and as word spread across North Carolina and across the South, so did the sit-in: By mid-April, more than 50,000 protesters - ordinary Americans, most of them young - had attacked Jim Crow at the counter.
Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13282/scholar-renders-deft-history-of-civil-rights-era.html
by Kendal Weaver, Associated Press Writer , December 21, 2009
Even after nearly 50 years, the names bear repeating: Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Ezell Blair and Joseph McNeil.
They were freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University on Feb. 1, 1960, when they took their seats at the Whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro. Four young Blacks tired of segregation laws, they were refused service and asked to leave. But they remained until the counter closed, and when they walked back to their dorm exhilarated, they had set in motion an act of civil disobedience - the sit-in - that took the civil rights movement by storm.
The next day, 25 sit-in protesters showed up. Then 63 filled all but two seats at Woolworth's. The protest spilled over to the nearby Kress department store, and as word spread across North Carolina and across the South, so did the sit-in: By mid-April, more than 50,000 protesters - ordinary Americans, most of them young - had attacked Jim Crow at the counter.
Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/article/13282/scholar-renders-deft-history-of-civil-rights-era.html
Purchase The Shadows of Youth from the AAAA Bookstore
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Remaining vigilant on civil rights
IndyStar.com
November 7, 2009
Indiana's latest cross-burning case illustrates challenge facing state and feds
By Jon Murrayjon.murray@indystar.com
Cross burnings may seem like a relic from a dark chapter in American history, but an incident in Indiana resulted this week in prison sentences of a year or more for three Muncie men.
At least two other Indiana cross-burning cases, in Muncie and Mishawaka, have been prosecuted in the past two years. All three were motivated by racism, federal prosecutors say.
During a Friday visit to Indianapolis, the top civil rights lawyer for the U.S. government pointed to those cases and increases in reported hate crimes as reason for vigilance. Thomas E. Perez, confirmed by the U.S. Senate last month as assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, cited a recent expansion of the federal hate-crimes law as an important tool.
"Recent history here in Indiana and across the nation reminds us that we continue to have people who, frankly, have issues with the diversity of our country and with the inclusion that is our nation's strength," Perez said during a news conference with other federal officials, including acting U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison.
The case that ended this week was spurred by a cross set afire in a yard in July 2008 as a black family slept inside their home in a Muncie neighborhood. Sentenced Thursday were Richard LaShure, 41; his son, Richard Logue, 20; and Aaron Latham, 20.
Full Story: http://www.indystar.com/article/20091107/NEWS02/911070358/Authorities+cooperate+to+battle+crimes+of+hate
November 7, 2009
Indiana's latest cross-burning case illustrates challenge facing state and feds
By Jon Murrayjon.murray@indystar.com
Cross burnings may seem like a relic from a dark chapter in American history, but an incident in Indiana resulted this week in prison sentences of a year or more for three Muncie men.
At least two other Indiana cross-burning cases, in Muncie and Mishawaka, have been prosecuted in the past two years. All three were motivated by racism, federal prosecutors say.
During a Friday visit to Indianapolis, the top civil rights lawyer for the U.S. government pointed to those cases and increases in reported hate crimes as reason for vigilance. Thomas E. Perez, confirmed by the U.S. Senate last month as assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, cited a recent expansion of the federal hate-crimes law as an important tool.
"Recent history here in Indiana and across the nation reminds us that we continue to have people who, frankly, have issues with the diversity of our country and with the inclusion that is our nation's strength," Perez said during a news conference with other federal officials, including acting U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison.
The case that ended this week was spurred by a cross set afire in a yard in July 2008 as a black family slept inside their home in a Muncie neighborhood. Sentenced Thursday were Richard LaShure, 41; his son, Richard Logue, 20; and Aaron Latham, 20.
Full Story: http://www.indystar.com/article/20091107/NEWS02/911070358/Authorities+cooperate+to+battle+crimes+of+hate
Saturday, February 21, 2009
'A Nation of Cowards'?
The Washington Post
Editorial
The attorney general's speech on race
Saturday, February 21, 2009; A12
ATTORNEY GENERAL Eric H. Holder Jr. took his fair share of lumps this week for calling the United States "a nation of cowards" because "we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race." His provocative choice of words sparked a debate that has distracted from his main point, which is important despite its familiarity: Americans need to engage in an ongoing and honest conversation about race.
Mr. Holder lauded the now-commonplace interactions between and among the races at work but lamented that "there is almost no significant interaction between us" outside the workplace. "Given all that we as a nation went through during the civil rights struggle," he said, "it is hard for me to accept that the result of those efforts was to create an America that is more prosperous, more positively race-conscious and yet is voluntarily socially segregated." Notice what he didn't say. The nation's chief law enforcement officer and the first African American to hold the post did not prescribe a government solution or a legal remedy. Government has its role in promoting and defending equal rights, of course, and we expect Mr. Holder to restore the civil rights division to its rightful place of pride in his department. But he was asking for Americans to engage in personal conversations about race.
He's hardly the first. President Bill Clinton called for a national conversation on race in 1997, and that didn't get very far. Nearly a year ago, as a candidate for the Democratic nomination, President Obama issued the same call in a speech that addressed head-on the pain, anger and frustration of generations of blacks and whites. Now we have Mr. Holder's contribution, which we hope will spur Americans to put more content into the call for "conversation."
Is the voluntary self-segregation he decries a benign personal choice or is it more sinister? What role is played by school inequality, by inequality in capital accumulation, by popular culture? Is affirmative action a solution, or has it become an obstacle? Do others agree with Mr. Holder's contention that black history "is given a separate, and clearly not equal, treatment by our society in general and by our educational institutions in particular"?
This is just to get things started.
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022003643.html
Editorial
The attorney general's speech on race
Saturday, February 21, 2009; A12
ATTORNEY GENERAL Eric H. Holder Jr. took his fair share of lumps this week for calling the United States "a nation of cowards" because "we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race." His provocative choice of words sparked a debate that has distracted from his main point, which is important despite its familiarity: Americans need to engage in an ongoing and honest conversation about race.
Mr. Holder lauded the now-commonplace interactions between and among the races at work but lamented that "there is almost no significant interaction between us" outside the workplace. "Given all that we as a nation went through during the civil rights struggle," he said, "it is hard for me to accept that the result of those efforts was to create an America that is more prosperous, more positively race-conscious and yet is voluntarily socially segregated." Notice what he didn't say. The nation's chief law enforcement officer and the first African American to hold the post did not prescribe a government solution or a legal remedy. Government has its role in promoting and defending equal rights, of course, and we expect Mr. Holder to restore the civil rights division to its rightful place of pride in his department. But he was asking for Americans to engage in personal conversations about race.
He's hardly the first. President Bill Clinton called for a national conversation on race in 1997, and that didn't get very far. Nearly a year ago, as a candidate for the Democratic nomination, President Obama issued the same call in a speech that addressed head-on the pain, anger and frustration of generations of blacks and whites. Now we have Mr. Holder's contribution, which we hope will spur Americans to put more content into the call for "conversation."
Is the voluntary self-segregation he decries a benign personal choice or is it more sinister? What role is played by school inequality, by inequality in capital accumulation, by popular culture? Is affirmative action a solution, or has it become an obstacle? Do others agree with Mr. Holder's contention that black history "is given a separate, and clearly not equal, treatment by our society in general and by our educational institutions in particular"?
This is just to get things started.
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022003643.html
Monday, February 2, 2009
As president, Obama vows to address rights
Philly.com
Monday, Feb 2, 9:41 AM
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst
President Obama proposes an aggressive civil rights agenda on his Web site, whitehouse.gov.
Obama pledges to end sex- and race-based pay disparities, push through the fair pay and employment nondiscrimination acts, harshly penalize voter fraud, dump race-tinged drug-sentencing disparities, and outlaw racial profiling at the federal level while providing financial incentives to local and state police to ban the practice. The president also promises to markedly expand hate-crime prosecutions.
None of these things is really new. Obama pledged swift action on these issues on his campaign Web site. Yet they were virtually nonexistent as campaign talking points.
Candidate Obama's reluctance to talk much about his civil rights agenda was a calculated political move. Such talk has been taboo in all recent presidential races, seeping into debates only when a candidate snatches the issue to race-bait opponents or assure middle-class voters that he will not tilt toward or pander to minorities.
In 1988, George H.W. Bush slammed Michael Dukakis as being soft on crime for allegedly letting black convict Willie Horton roam free to commit rape and murder. Bill Clinton used Jesse Jackson as a foil to assure middle-class voters that he would fight just as hard as conservative Republicans to protect their interests. In one 2000 debate, George W. Bush and Al Gore clashed over affirmative action, but both distanced themselves from the issue.
Obama knew that talk of civil rights invariably translates to talk of race, a minefield that could blow up at any time and mortally wound his candidacy. A good example was the endless TV sound loop of inflammatory tirades by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama's campaign was initially shell-shocked but recovered. However, the flap guaranteed that race would not be uttered for the rest of the campaign.
Candidate Obama had to observe the rules of political expediency to win the White House, but President Obama's political capital account is bulging. His public approval is sky high, and he has the bully pulpit. Not only can he talk about civil rights without risk of backlash, but he can act as well.
Full Opinion: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090201_As_president__Obama_vows_to_address_rights.html
Monday, Feb 2, 9:41 AM
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst
President Obama proposes an aggressive civil rights agenda on his Web site, whitehouse.gov.
Obama pledges to end sex- and race-based pay disparities, push through the fair pay and employment nondiscrimination acts, harshly penalize voter fraud, dump race-tinged drug-sentencing disparities, and outlaw racial profiling at the federal level while providing financial incentives to local and state police to ban the practice. The president also promises to markedly expand hate-crime prosecutions.
None of these things is really new. Obama pledged swift action on these issues on his campaign Web site. Yet they were virtually nonexistent as campaign talking points.
Candidate Obama's reluctance to talk much about his civil rights agenda was a calculated political move. Such talk has been taboo in all recent presidential races, seeping into debates only when a candidate snatches the issue to race-bait opponents or assure middle-class voters that he will not tilt toward or pander to minorities.
In 1988, George H.W. Bush slammed Michael Dukakis as being soft on crime for allegedly letting black convict Willie Horton roam free to commit rape and murder. Bill Clinton used Jesse Jackson as a foil to assure middle-class voters that he would fight just as hard as conservative Republicans to protect their interests. In one 2000 debate, George W. Bush and Al Gore clashed over affirmative action, but both distanced themselves from the issue.
Obama knew that talk of civil rights invariably translates to talk of race, a minefield that could blow up at any time and mortally wound his candidacy. A good example was the endless TV sound loop of inflammatory tirades by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama's campaign was initially shell-shocked but recovered. However, the flap guaranteed that race would not be uttered for the rest of the campaign.
Candidate Obama had to observe the rules of political expediency to win the White House, but President Obama's political capital account is bulging. His public approval is sky high, and he has the bully pulpit. Not only can he talk about civil rights without risk of backlash, but he can act as well.
Full Opinion: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090201_As_president__Obama_vows_to_address_rights.html
Friday, December 19, 2008
Hilda Solis is Obama Pick for Labor Secretary; Supports Affirmative Action
According to news reports Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA) will be nominated to serve as Secretary of Labor under the Obama Administration. As such, she will be responsible for the enforcement of Executive Order 11246 and other laws that require nondiscrimination and affirmative action by federal contractors. Solis will be the first Hispanic Labor Secretary.
Solis was the first Latina to serve in the California State Senate and received the "Profile in Courage Award" from the John F. Kennedy Library. In her acceptance speech, she indicated her support for affirmative action, among other issues, saying:
"As the first Latina ever elected to the California State Senate, I represent a community that has been historically disenfranchised and sometimes used as political scapegoats for the benefit of a few. I serve as their voice and as such, I have been embroiled in some of the most controversial issues facing the nation; raising the minimum wage, protecting immigrants from sweatshop enslavement, and affirmative action. Now, I am fighting for environmental justice.
"http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Hilda+Solis/Acceptance+Speech+by+Hilda+Solis.htm
In a "Congressional Conversation" with the "Younger Women's Task Force," Solis said:
" I support affirmative action in educational settings. Encouraging more women and minorities to enter into a wide variety of fields will produce the qualified candidates needed in the public and private sectors. With the growing diversity of our country, our workforce and government will need to reflect and understand our population. I continue to encourage women and minorities to run for office." http://www.ywtf.org/YWTF/Programs/CongressionalConversations.aspx
While Rep. Solis is most regarded for her environmental support, her record on civil rights is strong. She is rated 100% by the NAACP and reflects a "pro-affirmative action stance," according to the website "On the Issues." According to this site, Solis also voted:
YES on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation
NO on Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman
Voted NO on making the PATRIOT Act permanent
Voted NO on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage
Co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment for equal rights by gender
Rated 87% by the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record
Issue a commemorative postage stamp of Rosa Parks
Co-sponsored the bill to Reinforce anti-discrimination and equal-pay requirements
http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Hilda_Solis_Civil_Rights.htm
Rep. Solis' bio follows:
First elected in 2000, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis is serving her fourth term in Congress representing California's 32nd Congressional District, which includes Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Rosemead, South El Monte, and West Covina and portions of Monterey Park and East Los Angeles. Solis’ priorities in Congress include expanding access to affordable health care, protecting the environment, and improving the lives of working families. Solis is the first Latina to serve on the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she is Vice Chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials (EHM) Subcommittee and a member of the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. From 2003-2006, she served as the Ranking Democratic Member of the EHM Subcommittee. Solis also serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and in March 2007 was named a member of the newly created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.Solis also serves as Co-Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She is a Senior Whip, as well as a Regional Whip for Southern California. Solis is also Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and the Environment, under which she spearheads annual summits across the country about racial and ethnic health disparities.In 2007, Solis was appointed to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), as well as the Mexico – United States Interparliamentary Group. In June 2007, Solis was elected Vice Chair of the Helsinki Commission’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. She is the only U.S. elected official to serve on this Committee.A former Co-Chair of the bi-partisan Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Solis is an outspoken advocate for issues of importance to women and families. She has been a leader in efforts to end the murders of women in Guatemala and the U.S. border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and played a key role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2006.In Congress, Solis has won legislative victories to: provide workforce training for “green collar” jobs (Public Law 110-140); authorize a federal study of how the San Gabriel River Watershed's recreational and environmental opportunities can be improved (Public Law No. 108-042); remove barriers to U.S. citizenship for non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. military and reserves (Public Law 108-136); ban pesticide testing on pregnant women and children; help ensure health care access for Latinos suffering from HIV/AIDS; and promote domestic violence awareness, particularly in communities of color.A nationally recognized leader on the environment, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000 for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues. Her California environmental justice legislation, enacted in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.Solis graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She worked in the Carter White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and was later appointed as a management analyst with the Office of Management and Budget in the Civil Rights Division.Solis was first elected to public office in 1985 as a member of the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees. She served in the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1994, and in 1994 made history by becoming the first Latina elected to the California State Senate. As the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Industrial Relations Committee, she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996. She also authored a record seventeen state laws aimed at combating domestic violence.Solis is a lifetime resident of the San Gabriel Valley and currently resides in the city of El Monte with her husband Sam, a small business owner. Her parents and six siblings continue to be a great source of inspiration to Congresswoman Solis.
http://solis.house.gov/biography/biography_long.shtml
AAAA - SJW 12/19/08
Solis was the first Latina to serve in the California State Senate and received the "Profile in Courage Award" from the John F. Kennedy Library. In her acceptance speech, she indicated her support for affirmative action, among other issues, saying:
"As the first Latina ever elected to the California State Senate, I represent a community that has been historically disenfranchised and sometimes used as political scapegoats for the benefit of a few. I serve as their voice and as such, I have been embroiled in some of the most controversial issues facing the nation; raising the minimum wage, protecting immigrants from sweatshop enslavement, and affirmative action. Now, I am fighting for environmental justice.
"http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Hilda+Solis/Acceptance+Speech+by+Hilda+Solis.htm
In a "Congressional Conversation" with the "Younger Women's Task Force," Solis said:
" I support affirmative action in educational settings. Encouraging more women and minorities to enter into a wide variety of fields will produce the qualified candidates needed in the public and private sectors. With the growing diversity of our country, our workforce and government will need to reflect and understand our population. I continue to encourage women and minorities to run for office." http://www.ywtf.org/YWTF/Programs/CongressionalConversations.aspx
While Rep. Solis is most regarded for her environmental support, her record on civil rights is strong. She is rated 100% by the NAACP and reflects a "pro-affirmative action stance," according to the website "On the Issues." According to this site, Solis also voted:
YES on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation
NO on Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman
Voted NO on making the PATRIOT Act permanent
Voted NO on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage
Co-sponsored a Constitutional Amendment for equal rights by gender
Rated 87% by the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record
Issue a commemorative postage stamp of Rosa Parks
Co-sponsored the bill to Reinforce anti-discrimination and equal-pay requirements
http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Hilda_Solis_Civil_Rights.htm
Rep. Solis' bio follows:
First elected in 2000, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis is serving her fourth term in Congress representing California's 32nd Congressional District, which includes Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, Rosemead, South El Monte, and West Covina and portions of Monterey Park and East Los Angeles. Solis’ priorities in Congress include expanding access to affordable health care, protecting the environment, and improving the lives of working families. Solis is the first Latina to serve on the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she is Vice Chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials (EHM) Subcommittee and a member of the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. From 2003-2006, she served as the Ranking Democratic Member of the EHM Subcommittee. Solis also serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and in March 2007 was named a member of the newly created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.Solis also serves as Co-Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She is a Senior Whip, as well as a Regional Whip for Southern California. Solis is also Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and the Environment, under which she spearheads annual summits across the country about racial and ethnic health disparities.In 2007, Solis was appointed to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), as well as the Mexico – United States Interparliamentary Group. In June 2007, Solis was elected Vice Chair of the Helsinki Commission’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. She is the only U.S. elected official to serve on this Committee.A former Co-Chair of the bi-partisan Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Solis is an outspoken advocate for issues of importance to women and families. She has been a leader in efforts to end the murders of women in Guatemala and the U.S. border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and played a key role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2006.In Congress, Solis has won legislative victories to: provide workforce training for “green collar” jobs (Public Law 110-140); authorize a federal study of how the San Gabriel River Watershed's recreational and environmental opportunities can be improved (Public Law No. 108-042); remove barriers to U.S. citizenship for non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. military and reserves (Public Law 108-136); ban pesticide testing on pregnant women and children; help ensure health care access for Latinos suffering from HIV/AIDS; and promote domestic violence awareness, particularly in communities of color.A nationally recognized leader on the environment, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000 for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues. Her California environmental justice legislation, enacted in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.Solis graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She worked in the Carter White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and was later appointed as a management analyst with the Office of Management and Budget in the Civil Rights Division.Solis was first elected to public office in 1985 as a member of the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees. She served in the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1994, and in 1994 made history by becoming the first Latina elected to the California State Senate. As the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Industrial Relations Committee, she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996. She also authored a record seventeen state laws aimed at combating domestic violence.Solis is a lifetime resident of the San Gabriel Valley and currently resides in the city of El Monte with her husband Sam, a small business owner. Her parents and six siblings continue to be a great source of inspiration to Congresswoman Solis.
http://solis.house.gov/biography/biography_long.shtml
AAAA - SJW 12/19/08
Monday, December 1, 2008
Maryland prepares to repeal a bad law from the civil rights era
The Baltimore Sun
By Laura Smitherman laura.smitherman@baltsun.com
November 30, 2008
An effort is under way to repeal a Jim Crow-era law that makes it illegal in Maryland to receive any kind of payment, including bus fare, for participating in a protest against racial discrimination.The law was aimed at discouraging Freedom Riders from traveling to the state to agitate against segregation and racism during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.As part of a compromise that through the lens of history appears unseemly, lawmakers inserted the provision into an anti-discrimination law after rioting in Cambridge focused national attention on the Eastern Shore town.Although the law has never been enforced, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, in an opinion this month, concluded that courts would likely find that the 44-year-old statutedoesn't pass constitutional muster under the First Amendment.Legislative leaders plan to introduce legislation to repeal the law during the General Assembly session that begins in January, and Gov. Martin O'Malley's office said he would support the bill.If not for the work of a committee assigned the yeoman's job of reviewing that particular section of the Maryland annotated code, the law might have remained in obscurity.
Full story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/ideas/bal-id.repeal30nov30,0,5709774.story
By Laura Smitherman laura.smitherman@baltsun.com
November 30, 2008
An effort is under way to repeal a Jim Crow-era law that makes it illegal in Maryland to receive any kind of payment, including bus fare, for participating in a protest against racial discrimination.The law was aimed at discouraging Freedom Riders from traveling to the state to agitate against segregation and racism during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.As part of a compromise that through the lens of history appears unseemly, lawmakers inserted the provision into an anti-discrimination law after rioting in Cambridge focused national attention on the Eastern Shore town.Although the law has never been enforced, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, in an opinion this month, concluded that courts would likely find that the 44-year-old statutedoesn't pass constitutional muster under the First Amendment.Legislative leaders plan to introduce legislation to repeal the law during the General Assembly session that begins in January, and Gov. Martin O'Malley's office said he would support the bill.If not for the work of a committee assigned the yeoman's job of reviewing that particular section of the Maryland annotated code, the law might have remained in obscurity.
Full story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/ideas/bal-id.repeal30nov30,0,5709774.story
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Racial amnesia may be the cure
The Boston Globe
By Anita F. Hill October 29, 2008
MANY OF US who advocate for civil rights lament the fact that the country seems to have forgotten the role race has played in the American experience. We even accuse America of suffering from racial amnesia. Yet, racial amnesia may help Barack Obama and other Democrats on Election Day.
When some Americans remember race, they are reminded of why they and their parents started voting Republican. As President Lyndon Johnson predicted, the exodus began when he supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even as many in the country were pushing back from racist behavior, those who rejected the federal government's authority to usher in social change captured a portion of the country's political imagination. For them, the laws enacted in the 1960s represented unwarranted government interference on many fronts, and actually contributed to the racial divisions.
States throughout the South abandoned the Democratic Party. Border states and states in the Midwest followed suit, ending histories of straight Democratic Party line representation. Economic concerns played a part as well. But as Sam Gibbons, a Democrat from Florida, observed in 1994, "Republicans have been able to capitalize on [race], creating what is, in effect, an all-white party."
With some, the 1960s' concept of race's relationship to their political choices still holds sway. In 2004, George W. Bush slightly altered the party's racial profile by capturing 44 percent of the Latino vote, but many questioned whether that was an anomaly.
Not surprisingly, because my reality was different, my recollections from the 1960s differ from those who fled the party. I recall a country that rejected Jim Crow laws and committed government resources to assist underfunded and outmanned civil rights champions in overturning centuries of neglect and oppression.
The booming economy of the period played a critical role in encouraging feelings of benevolence. We could afford to put aside racial differences and spread resources like jobs and education. Still, we are yet to come to a consensus on what the reality of race was even then.
Today, as the economy continues to slide, government intervention is not only necessary, it is also desirable. In this context, many are ready to put race aside.
Nearly two generations since that initial shift in voting patterns, some racial memories are either fading or being altered. In a recent CNN poll, 7 out of 10 said that race is not a factor in their decision in the presidential election.
Obama is poised to change America's electoral map by being the first Democratic nominee in decades to win in Virginia, Iowa, and Indiana. Hispanic voters, who helped Bush capture Colorado and New Mexico, favor Obama over John McCain. Democrats in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama may take congressional seats even though Obama may not carry the states.
Regardless of one's political leaning, most would acknowledge that the country is aware of its racial and ethnic diversity, and that for most Americans the stark contrast between the "black experience" and the "white experience" no longer exists. [To read the entire editorial, go to: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/10/29/racial_amnesia_may_be_the_cure/]
By Anita F. Hill October 29, 2008
MANY OF US who advocate for civil rights lament the fact that the country seems to have forgotten the role race has played in the American experience. We even accuse America of suffering from racial amnesia. Yet, racial amnesia may help Barack Obama and other Democrats on Election Day.
When some Americans remember race, they are reminded of why they and their parents started voting Republican. As President Lyndon Johnson predicted, the exodus began when he supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even as many in the country were pushing back from racist behavior, those who rejected the federal government's authority to usher in social change captured a portion of the country's political imagination. For them, the laws enacted in the 1960s represented unwarranted government interference on many fronts, and actually contributed to the racial divisions.
States throughout the South abandoned the Democratic Party. Border states and states in the Midwest followed suit, ending histories of straight Democratic Party line representation. Economic concerns played a part as well. But as Sam Gibbons, a Democrat from Florida, observed in 1994, "Republicans have been able to capitalize on [race], creating what is, in effect, an all-white party."
With some, the 1960s' concept of race's relationship to their political choices still holds sway. In 2004, George W. Bush slightly altered the party's racial profile by capturing 44 percent of the Latino vote, but many questioned whether that was an anomaly.
Not surprisingly, because my reality was different, my recollections from the 1960s differ from those who fled the party. I recall a country that rejected Jim Crow laws and committed government resources to assist underfunded and outmanned civil rights champions in overturning centuries of neglect and oppression.
The booming economy of the period played a critical role in encouraging feelings of benevolence. We could afford to put aside racial differences and spread resources like jobs and education. Still, we are yet to come to a consensus on what the reality of race was even then.
Today, as the economy continues to slide, government intervention is not only necessary, it is also desirable. In this context, many are ready to put race aside.
Nearly two generations since that initial shift in voting patterns, some racial memories are either fading or being altered. In a recent CNN poll, 7 out of 10 said that race is not a factor in their decision in the presidential election.
Obama is poised to change America's electoral map by being the first Democratic nominee in decades to win in Virginia, Iowa, and Indiana. Hispanic voters, who helped Bush capture Colorado and New Mexico, favor Obama over John McCain. Democrats in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama may take congressional seats even though Obama may not carry the states.
Regardless of one's political leaning, most would acknowledge that the country is aware of its racial and ethnic diversity, and that for most Americans the stark contrast between the "black experience" and the "white experience" no longer exists. [To read the entire editorial, go to: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/10/29/racial_amnesia_may_be_the_cure/]
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Righting Reagan’s Wrongs?
The New York Times
By BOB HERBERT
Published: November 13, 2007
Let’s set the record straight on Ronald Reagan’s campaign kickoff in 1980.
Early one morning in the late spring of 1964, Dr. Carolyn Goodman, her husband, Robert, and their 17-year-old son, David, said goodbye to David’s brother, Andrew, who was 20.
They hugged in the family’s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Andrew left. He was on his way to the racial hell of Mississippi to join in the effort to encourage local blacks to register and vote.
It was a dangerous mission, and Andrew’s parents were reluctant to let him go. But the family had always believed strongly in equal rights and the benefits of social activism. “I didn’t have the right,” Dr. Goodman would tell me many years later, “to tell him not to go.”
After a brief stopover in Ohio, Andrew traveled to the town of Philadelphia in Neshoba County, Mississippi, a vicious white-supremacist stronghold. Just days earlier, members of the Ku Klux Klan had firebombed a black church in the county and had beaten terrified worshipers.
Andrew would not survive very long. On June 21, one day after his arrival, he and fellow activists Michael Schwerner and James Chaney disappeared. Their bodies wouldn’t be found until August. All had been murdered, shot to death by whites enraged at the very idea of people trying to secure the rights of African-Americans.
The murders were among the most notorious in American history. They constituted Neshoba County’s primary claim to fame when Reagan won the Republican Party’s nomination for president in 1980. The case was still a festering sore at that time. Some of the conspirators were still being protected by the local community. And white supremacy was still the order of the day.
That was the atmosphere and that was the place that Reagan chose as the first stop in his general election campaign. The campaign debuted at the Neshoba County Fair in front of a white and, at times, raucous crowd of perhaps 10,000, chanting: “We want Reagan! We want Reagan!”
Reagan was the first presidential candidate ever to appear at the fair, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he told that crowd, “I believe in states’ rights.”
Reagan apologists have every right to be ashamed of that appearance by their hero, but they have no right to change the meaning of it, which was unmistakable. Commentators have been trying of late to put this appearance by Reagan into a racially benign context.
That won’t wash. Reagan may have been blessed with a Hollywood smile and an avuncular delivery, but he was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon.
Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair. Whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans — they all knew. The news media knew. The race haters and the people appalled by racial hatred knew. And Reagan knew.
He was tapping out the code. It was understood that when politicians started chirping about “states’ rights” to white people in places like Neshoba County they were saying that when it comes down to you and the blacks, we’re with you.
And Reagan meant it. He was opposed to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was the same year that Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were slaughtered. As president, he actually tried to weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He opposed a national holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He tried to get rid of the federal ban on tax exemptions for private schools that practiced racial discrimination. And in 1988, he vetoed a bill to expand the reach of federal civil rights legislation.
[To read the entire op-ed, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ]
By BOB HERBERT
Published: November 13, 2007
Let’s set the record straight on Ronald Reagan’s campaign kickoff in 1980.
Early one morning in the late spring of 1964, Dr. Carolyn Goodman, her husband, Robert, and their 17-year-old son, David, said goodbye to David’s brother, Andrew, who was 20.
They hugged in the family’s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Andrew left. He was on his way to the racial hell of Mississippi to join in the effort to encourage local blacks to register and vote.
It was a dangerous mission, and Andrew’s parents were reluctant to let him go. But the family had always believed strongly in equal rights and the benefits of social activism. “I didn’t have the right,” Dr. Goodman would tell me many years later, “to tell him not to go.”
After a brief stopover in Ohio, Andrew traveled to the town of Philadelphia in Neshoba County, Mississippi, a vicious white-supremacist stronghold. Just days earlier, members of the Ku Klux Klan had firebombed a black church in the county and had beaten terrified worshipers.
Andrew would not survive very long. On June 21, one day after his arrival, he and fellow activists Michael Schwerner and James Chaney disappeared. Their bodies wouldn’t be found until August. All had been murdered, shot to death by whites enraged at the very idea of people trying to secure the rights of African-Americans.
The murders were among the most notorious in American history. They constituted Neshoba County’s primary claim to fame when Reagan won the Republican Party’s nomination for president in 1980. The case was still a festering sore at that time. Some of the conspirators were still being protected by the local community. And white supremacy was still the order of the day.
That was the atmosphere and that was the place that Reagan chose as the first stop in his general election campaign. The campaign debuted at the Neshoba County Fair in front of a white and, at times, raucous crowd of perhaps 10,000, chanting: “We want Reagan! We want Reagan!”
Reagan was the first presidential candidate ever to appear at the fair, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he told that crowd, “I believe in states’ rights.”
Reagan apologists have every right to be ashamed of that appearance by their hero, but they have no right to change the meaning of it, which was unmistakable. Commentators have been trying of late to put this appearance by Reagan into a racially benign context.
That won’t wash. Reagan may have been blessed with a Hollywood smile and an avuncular delivery, but he was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon.
Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair. Whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans — they all knew. The news media knew. The race haters and the people appalled by racial hatred knew. And Reagan knew.
He was tapping out the code. It was understood that when politicians started chirping about “states’ rights” to white people in places like Neshoba County they were saying that when it comes down to you and the blacks, we’re with you.
And Reagan meant it. He was opposed to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was the same year that Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were slaughtered. As president, he actually tried to weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He opposed a national holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He tried to get rid of the federal ban on tax exemptions for private schools that practiced racial discrimination. And in 1988, he vetoed a bill to expand the reach of federal civil rights legislation.
[To read the entire op-ed, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ]
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