Civil Rights

1
Civil Rights

• Segal Brzuzy 9

2
Civil Rights vs. Social Services

• Rights are what people deserve and are entitled
  to
  
• Social welfare services are what government and
  groups in power are willing to provide
  
• Civil rights describes the rights to which people
  are entitled because they are members of society

3

• Rights are often ensured and protected through
  laws, resources, and services
  
• Social services are provided only when deemed
  necessary by a majority of voters
  
• Civil rights are protected and guaranteed by law
• Social services are created and dispensed in
  accord with the decisions of policy-makers

4
The U.S. Constitution

• Serves as the basis for civil rights and
  protections in America
  
• Bill of Rights identifies the central tenets of
  civil rights in America

5
History of Voting Rights

• Were left to the states to decide
• Predominately a right of white men who owned
  property
  
• 14th Amendment (1868) established full rights and
  citizenship and equality for all, including
  African-Americans
  
• Plessy vs. Ferguson (1870) mandated equal
  protection did not preclude segregation

6
Voting and African-Americans

• Poll taxes and literacy tests were used to bar
  people from registering to vote
  
• Intimidation and fear tactics were used to
  discourage African-Americans from voting
  
• 24th Amendment (1964) barred poll taxes
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended literacy tests
  and assigned federal registrars to enroll voters

7
Womens Suffrage

• In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was official
  beginning of the womens suffrage movement in
  America
  
• National Women Suffrage Association
• 19th Amendment (1920), enabled women to vote

8
Discrimination

• Jim Crow Laws enforced segregation
• Housing and employment
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352)
• - prohibited racial, sexual, or ethnic
• discrimination
• -required desegregation of public facilities
• - created the Equal Employment
• Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
  

9
Affirmative Action

• Involves efforts to correct historical imbalances
  in opportunities due to race and gender
  
• Efforts to equalize hiring practices
• Requires proof of efforts to ensure qualified
  people of color and women are included in any
  pool of applicants and represented fairly
  
• States have passed laws to minimize impact

10
Womens Rights

• Equal Rights Amendment, not ratified in 1982
• Title IX of the Education Amendment to the Civil
  rights Act (1972), supported gender equity
  
• Issue of abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973)

11
Rights of People with Disabilities

• Great debate about what defines a disability
• People with disabilities face numerous social and
  economic barriers
  
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• - prohibits discrimination in employment,
• public accommodations, transportation,
• and public services

12
Gay and Lesbian Rights

• Far accepted as a right to be protected
• Lack of civil rights protection
• Employment Non-Discrimination Act (1994)
• - employment decisions cannot be based on
• sexual orientation
• - defeated by narrow margin in 1996 Senate
• vote

13
American Indians Civil Rights

• Civil rights protection for American Indians
  largely ignored by makers of public policy
  
• In 1886, Supreme Court ruled American Indian
  tribes were wards of the nation
  
• Dawes Act legalized ways for whites to acquire
  Indian land
  
• Can vote and own land, but economic and social
  rights are still lacking

14
Rights of Immigrants

• In 1995, CA voters passed Proposition 187, which
  terminated public social services to illegal
  immigrants
  
• A federal law was also passed that limits public
  social welfare services for legal and illegal
  immigrants
  
• PRWORA (1996) bans illegal immigrants from
  receiving food stamps and SSI

15
Final Thought

• Questions regarding the governments role in
  ensuring and protecting rights, what is or is not
  a right, and what rights exist for whom, dominate
  social welfare policy debates today (p.161)