Equality is Constitutional free essay sample

Equality is ConstitutionalFreedom has never been categorized into a fixed concept. Rather, it has been the subject of constant conflict in the history of the United States of America. The history of freedom in the United States of America is a narrative of long debates, disagreements, and struggles other than a set of timeless categories or an evolutionary narrative towards a common preordained goal. (Pg. 437) The plight of freedom and equality in the American society has been relevant at all levels of the social order; not only in congressional debates and political parties but in the day-to-day lives of the American people. Civil Rights are the freedoms that any and every person should have regardless of her or his sexual orientation, ethnicity, and or religious affiliations. In 1950s the civil rights movement was primarily focuses on ratifying racial inequalities nation wide for people of color. (Pg. 437) Over fifty years after Martin Luther King, Jrs legendary march on Washington, the civil rights movement has since then shifted. The original issues that the civil rights movement fought against has shifted from the public eye while same sex marriage and immigration reconstruction has the leading edge. The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1868, this amendment granted, All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. (Pg.438) (The Constitution of the United States, Amendment 14.)Not long after in 1870, the 15th Amendment was added to the Constitution enabling African American citizens the †¦right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. (Pg. 438)(The Constitution of the United States, Amendment 15.)Still, many white Americans who mostly resided in the South, remained displeased that people they once owned as slaves were now on an equal playing field. In order to further post pone the progress recently made, Jim Crow (Jim Crow was a derogatory term for a black person.) laws were established in the South beginning in the late 19th century. (Pg.439) Once the Supreme Court took the teeth out of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, such laws proliferated. They required blacks to live in separate (generally inferior) areas and restricted them to (sic) separation. (Pg.439) These laws prohibited African Americans from using the same public lavatories, living in many of the same cities or go to the same schools as white Americans. These laws were implemented as an alternative route to erase the civil reconstruction that was previously made. Conversely, Jim Crow laws werent adopted in northern states; nonetheless, African American citizens still experienced intense discrimination at jobs or when they tried to buy homes. (Pg.437-439) These events helped set the stage to start the initiative to enact change on racial equality legislation and progression of the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was a battle against social injustice and equality for all people including people of color in the United States of America that took place during the 1950s and 1960s. At the end of the Civil war slavery had already been abolished, but it did not end discrimination against people of color. Furthermore, during the civil rights movement they continued to tolerate the traumatic effects of racism, mostly taking place in the southern states. Around the middle of the 20th century, African Americans had experienced more than enough of racial injustice and unnecessary violent acts against them. Martin Luther king Jr. was the leading figure and key symbol of the civil rights movement in the United States. (Pg.439) However it was powered and hard-pressed by the loyalty and commitment of great numbers of people, of all races and from many different walks of life. The African American community took a stand and rallied behind Rosa Parks in response to her notorious arrest by boycotting the citys metropolitan bus system. (Pg.443-444) A boycott is the refusal to do business with a firm, individual, or nation as an expression of disapproval or as a means of coercion. (Pg.443) Just one year after the boycott began, the federal courts came to the conclusion that the southern segregated transportation systems violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. After all his success in the Rosa Parks case, Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a group of activists to help organize the southern civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was whole-heartedly vowed to a nonviolent course of action to bring racial injustices to the forefront. He also advocated civil disobedience to all of his followers, ensuring them that non-violence is the preeminent way to combat laws that are regarded as unjust. (Pg.443) When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the 1954 case Plessy Vs. Ferguson, (Pg. 440) the impact was felt across the United States of America. This was more than just a document written in the complexities of legal language, but the ruling was the match that sparked a pivotal movement in society: the civil rights movement. In Plessy Vs. Ferguson, the court decided that the separate but equal doctrine was inherently unequal; it violated the 14th Amendments promise of equal protection of the laws.(Pg. 440) Another pivotal issue was the public school systems, some of which made a permanent practice of separating black students from white students. They were officially required to desegregate after the notorious Brown v. Board of Education trial. This case was the culmination of twenty years of planning and litigation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to invalidate racial segregation in public schools. (Pg.441) This inspired citizens around the nation to rally against all forms of institutionalized racial discrimination from voting rights and to furthermore push for the quest of equal rights. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy. (Pg.444-445) Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. That new law gave the guarantee that equal employment was for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests to hinder applicants, and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated. The civil rights movement has come a long way since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Pg. 444-445) As of currently segregation is no longer the forefront of the civil rights movement. The movement has shifted to many new issues along with the original motive of striving for complete equality for all. American citizens support the equality of opportunity or equal opportunity. (Pg.453) Equality of opportunity is the simplistic idea that each person is guaranteed the same chance to succeed in life as any other. People should have an equal chance to develop their talents and that effort and ability should be rewarded equitably. This form of equality glorifies personal achievement and free competition, and it allows everyone to play on a level field where the same rules apply to all. (Pg.453-454) Special recruitment efforts aimed at identifying qualified minority or female job applicants, for example, ensuring that everyone has the same chances starting out in life. Among the most controversial civil rights issues today is affirmative action. (Pg. 454) Affirmative action is defined in the American context as the effort to redress previous discrimination against women, and minorities through active measures to promote their employment and educational opportunities. (Pg. 453-455) The rationale behind affirmative action is a great opportunity for the American society to attempt to right its previous wrongs but some would argue that it gives free rides to a life of success for people of color. (Pg. 453) However, this is not the case; African American prejudice alone before GPAs and socioeconomic status come into play. Civil rights laws made it illegal to prohibit any students admittance to any school because of his or her race, sexual orientation, or religion. Nonetheless, in many parts of the country, schools are still segregated, if not intentional then by circumstance alone. (Pg.455) Since people of color and whites still often live in different areas and they often learn in different areas as well. Affirmative action requires schools to accept more people from different backgrounds which gives people of color opportunities to work, and or learn in a professional field that there fore fathers may not have had the opportunity to do so themselves. So just by merely allowing social processes, such as admissions to colleges or the awarding of government contracts, to operate normally perpetuates inequalities and the discrimination that underlies them. (Pg. 453-455)Civil Rights are the freedoms that any and every person should have regardless of her or his sexual orientation, ethnicity, and or religious affiliations. (Pg. 429) Rights usually signify protections that the government must provide. The United States of America has come a very long way since the Jim Crow days, and even though thee laws are in place, we have yet to come to a resolution for racism in the American society. Many schools are filled with not only black and students but also students form different countries, but as time has gone by many are more segregated than they were thirty years ago. Nearly fifty years after the March on Washington, there are persistent gaps that remain between people of color and whites. Poverty, unemployment, voting rights and racial disparities in education are still relevant issues today, as they were for those who marched for freedom and equality in 1963. (Pg. 457-458) Today, racial tensions have escalated to a boiling point similar to the way it did in the first civil rights movement. Fighting against old and newfound issues such as mass incarceration and LGBTQ rights the American people continue in the fight for equality for all. Equal rights means equality for all, anything less than that is just unconstitutional.