Legal and Social Equity:

The Struggle against Oppression

and Bigotry
By: Patrick Bairos, Justin Smith and Thomas Radzik
Central
Theme

Equality under law

Equality of opportunity
Equality of material well-
being
Official Victims of Discrimination

Racism
Referring to discrimination against African Americans, Hispanics,
and Native Americans
Sexism
Referring to discrimination against women
Ageism
Discrimination against the elderly
Ableism
Discrimination against people with disabilities
Homophobia
Discrimination against homosexuals
Nativism
Discrimination against foreign born immigrants
Rights of Foreign Born Citizens

The rights of illegal immigrants is an ongoing controversy in the United States

Should these persons be granted citizenship?
In 1994 a referendum in California's Proposition 187 allowed the California Constitution
to deny public benefits to all illegal immigrants, including:
Welfare
Access to public health facilities
The right to attend public school
A permanent injunction was issued and the proposition was never enforced
Rights of Foreign Born Citizens

In the spring of 2010 the state of Arizona passed a highly controversial state law
It was passed to control the flood of illegal immigrants
The law states:
If someone is detained for other legitimate reasons, such as a traffic violation, the police may
demand that the detainee produce documentation of immigration status if reasonable
suspicion exists that the person is in the United States illegally.
This law brought in a strong wave of criticism arguing that:
The law encourages law enforcement officials to detain and harass individuals just because
they look Hispanic
An example of the widely denounced policy of racial profiling
The Idea of Equality

Equality under law implies that government should treat

people as individuals rather than members of a social group
This concept implies that government should not allocate
rewards and punishments to people based on the racial, ethnic,
or religious groups for which they belong to
Equality under law historically has had liberal implications
For many years dominant groups had many privileges like:
Weighted voting
Laws determining who could or could not own land
Entering prestigious occupations and so forth
The Idea of Equality

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Historic supreme court decision which struck down legally required racial segregation in public
schools
State-mandated racial segregation reserved the best public schools and facilities for whites
before this case
Laws sanctioned discrimination in facilities licensed by the state to serve the public
Ins and restaurants across the country freely and openly, with the blessing of the Supreme
Court, restricted their clientele to the dominant groups.
Wage Gap
Historically there has been a gender gap in pay with woman earning less than men for the
same work performed
Equality of Opportunity

Equality of opportunity refers to the right of all individuals to realize their human
potential to become whatever their wishes allow them to become free of any barriers
imposed by society
Laws that treat each individual equally doesnt necessarily have the same impact on
each individual
The impact of a law on an individual is a function of the substance of the law but also
the circumstances of an individual
Equality under law doesnt necessarily create a genuine equality of opportunity
Equality of Opportunity

It may be argued that governmental neutrality

perpetuates the existing inequalities of opportunity
The rich stay rich while the poor stay poor
Obama commented on this in his 2008 campaign
"substantial inequality in the distribution of material well-
being constitutes a denial of 'social justice'
As Joe Biden put it in the 2012 campaign:
"it is good to 'spread the wealth around"
Equality of Opportunity

This sparks up the argument of meritocracy

The allocation of social values and status should be based on the performance and
perceived contributions from the individual
Meritocracy entails the following assumptions
Some social roles contribute more to the good of the community and thus rewards should be
proportionate to these contributions
The fulfillment of such roles requires long and difficult training
There must be incentive to persuade people to fill these difficult roles
Equality of Material
Well Being
Aka the equality of result.
Proportional equality: refers to the idea that a social
group's percentage in overall population should be
equaled to by its share of certain benefits, such as
income and wealth, or the holding of desires social
roles such as membership in the processions, high
socioeconomic status , and admissions to
professional schools.
For example, if African Americans make up12%
of the population, they should also equal 12% of
the workforce including doctors, lawyers, etc.
If this is not true it is an example of systematic
discrimination and could be a reason for
bringing about this underrepresentation.
Long story short everyone is entitled to the
same share of society, and should be able to be
proportional.
Civil Rights Movement and Equality:

A major turning point inequality in America came with the civil rights movement.
The civil rights movement appears on The surface to be one of the most groundbreaking movements
in American history.
This was a large step in political evolution.
The first stage took place in the 20th Century when the national Association for advancement of
colored(NAACP) people and all other organizations brought to attention the fact that they were denied
E quality underneath the law.
This first stage was mostly successful, but it was not entirely successful and the African-American
individuals we're not realized as well as they hope.
The second stage of the movement from the mid 1960s and the 1970s focused on other goals for
creating equality in the sense of opportunity.
In 1964 the civil rights act of 1964 was set in place. It outlined legislation to secure access to
jobs and public facilities such as restaurants to the people of color.
Later on in 1965 when the 1965 civil rights act was finalized, legislation passed the right to vote
for colored people.
And thirdly in 1968 the third civil rights act came in the place and it outlines legislation to end
discrimination in the sale and rental of houses

In other words the second stage outlined the different Rights minorities requested.
The third stage in the final stage was when the movement began to press for proportionally
quality.
As we all know now this was successful.
Civil Rights continued:

In 1865 after the 13th amendment ended out right slavery in United States,
equality began to grow.
The 14th amendment came in 1868 and was intended to end discriminatory
legislation by state governments.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was a bit of a roadblock the civil rights movement.
This case greatly weaken the amendments roll and it even legitimized the
currently existing discrimination in society.
The principles set forth by Plessy of separate but equal remains in effect until
1954.
Plessy was formally overruled in the 1954 landmark case of Brown V. the board
edge of education.
This case mandated that segregation in the field of education violates the
equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
This case is arguably one of the strongest points where segregation was
beginning to be eliminated.
Pressure was placed on local school districts after the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
because local school districts had to comply with the intent of brown otherwise
federal funding would be withheld.
Civil rights cont.

Things were starting to look up more minorities after the civil rights
act of 1964, the first major goal of the civil rights movement was to
eliminate the Jim Crow laws, which to this point seemed to be
successful.
The process of enforcing integration was underway and slowly you
would see segregation decline.
Also wonder the civil rights act of 1964 racial balance of employment
and higher education was addressed.
Certain provisions help to establish the equal employment
opportunity commission (EEOC)
The focus was to implement policies toward ending discrimination by
any employer or labor union with 25 or more persons.
Schooling is still was another issue. Organizations found ways around
the laws set in place. Standards of acceptance, made it so they could
still segregate, but do it legally technically.
Women's rights movement:

Women's suffrage was the first big performance rights in United States. In 19 night the 19th
amendment was the first groundbreaking movement for women's rights allowing women to
vote.
After the right to vote was push for and succeeded, this drove the movement farther to push
for equality in the workplace, fair pay, an education, as well as much more.
The Results came through in 1963 when the equal pay act was passed granting women and
America equal pay.
Civil rights act of 1964 as well as The equal opportunity act of 1972 also were major
milestones for women's rights.
The Supreme Court decision in Roe V. Wade marked a major milestone in women's rights to
abortion.
Even still to this day there is a gender pay gap. While the right movement for women was
successful in many ways, complete equality was not developed and is still ongoing today.
As time has gone on, there is still some discrimination in employment based upon gender.
"pink-collar jobs" are a prime example of where segregation still exists.
Gender pay gap:

Women have been fighting for nearly 100 years to see

equal pay and Employment throughout America.
In recent years there has been several senators and other
members of the government pushing to correct this
policy. The movement today for gender equality
concentrates on requiring equal pay. (the book states
there is no reason why administrative assistants should
be paid less than a plumber)
Women's rights continued:

There is still plenty of issues with the

quality based upon gender.
In the past colleges and universities
spend many times more on men
athletics as compared to women's.
Generally this is because society
sees male sports and athletes as
something that is admired,
whereas its counterpart female
sports and athletes are ridiculed
and often times considered to be
masculine, and less enjoyable.
The society's viewpoint on women's
equality still needs to be worked on,
and has many improvements still
coming.
BiasagainstHomosexuals, the
Handicapped, and Native Americans

As of2012,there were639,440 known same-sex couples in U.S

Americans remain uneasy about the expansion ofgay rights-
55%support same sex marriage
35% opposeand the rest are indifferent
Opponents fearthat homosexualswill influence or recruitimpressionable heterosexuals
This fear contradictsstudies that showhomosexuality is more involuntarythan a conscious
choice
Bias against Homosexuals

President Bill Clinton wanted to diffuse the issue ofgays in the military with "Don't ask,
don't tell" plan
Military no longerinquired aboutsexual orientation of personnel or recruits but could
stilldismissthose whowere foundtobegay or caught inhomosexual acts
Policy repealed in 2010
Social acceptance of homosexuals took a hit in the 1980's withthe spread ofthe AIDS
disease
Homosexual men wereone of the high-risk groups
Bias against Homosexuals

Leaders of the LGBTcommunityhave gone fromjust seeking

tolerance topushing homosexuality as a morally
equivalentalternative lifestyle.
Theissue of same-sex marriagehascome into prominence
as a means of gaining this moral equivalency.
Some arguethat normal spousal rights don't apply to gays and
can begained through civil union instead
Supreme Court ruled states could not ban same-sex marriages
on June 26, 2015,a big victory for gay rights activists
People with Disabilities

People with disabilitiesconcentrate on different

demands:Access to public placesand public
benefits(ex.Ramps, Braille, closed captioning tv)
Focus onequalizingopportunity and competition rather
than equal results.
The Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA)of1990protected therights ofthe disabled
similarlyto the rights granted tominorities and women
in1964Civil Rights Act
Native Americans

Native Americans havehistorically been subject of oppression, with their numbers

massively reducedand forced ontodesolatereservations.
Standard of livingis below the national norm, where they suffer fromunemployment,
alcoholism, andfurther alienation.
Constantlyprotest the names ofprofessional sports teams, ex. Washington
Redskins,first in 1991 andagain in2013.
Busing for Racial Balance

Busing childrento achieveracially balanced schools haspreviously

causedintensesocial and political conflict
Recently has been replaced withother programs like magnet schoolsor the
Seattleprogram.
Busing was used to overcomede facto segregationin schoolsbecause of the fact
thatdifferent ethnic and social groups congregated in segregated neighborhoods.
Milliken v Bradley 1974- Court held that busingcould not be requiredacross school
districtlines
Retreat on Preference Programs:
Weberand Title VII

Kaiser Aluminum v. Weberand UnitedSteelworkers ofAmerica v Weber(1979), the

Court confrontedthe legalityof a voluntary quotato balanceracially atraining
programleading to a promotion
Promotionswere based on seniority, but for every white selected, one African
American also had to be selected, regardless of seniority.
Weber case dealtwithwhetherthe Civil Rights Act banneddiscrimination when whites
were the victims. Revisited inRicci v. DeStefano.
Title VIIwas intended to preventrace from being used as a basisfor hiring, firing,or
employment status
1991 Civil Rights Act

Croson and Ward's Cove case issue-whether racial preferenceplans may be usedin
the absenceof evidence of specificdiscriminationby the firm, and what kind
ofevidence must be shown if past discriminationexists.
Civil Rights Act of 1991sought to overturn those cases andthe burden of proofis upon
the employersto justify any statisticaldiscrepancies, making it easier for minorities to
succeed in these disputes
Law requiredemployers charged with discriminationbased on statistical
underrepresentation oftargetedgroups in their workforceto justify their hiring criteria
on job relevance/ business necessity.
Recent Assaultson Racial and
Gender Preference

Parents Involvedin Community Schools v. SeattleSchool DistrictNumber 1

School districtassigned students to public schoolsspecifically to keep the racial mix within
specified limits
Struck down by Court, statingthatthis concept of diversitywas nota compelling enough
public purpose to justify the use of the subject category of race. Race alone could
notdetermineschool assignment
Casts doubt on the legality of most preference plansto engineer a racially diverse student
body
Debate over Affirmative Action

Main objection ofaffirmative actionis that it deniesthe principle of equality under law
These policiesreward or penalize individuals based on who they are(race, ethnicity,
gender) rather than what they do.
Critics claimaffirmative actionworks against individualism and puts
meritocracysecond to diversity.
Equality

The struggle for equality haschanged its goals and

issuesthroughout the years, as has the meaning of the
term.
Once referred to the struggle for the end of discrimination
and laws or policies that burden certain people.
Now implies that each racial or ethic group and each sex
has a right to proportionate share of the benefits of
society.