We like to imagine that our current society in America is more advanced than most other regions of the world. Recent legislation in Georgia and North Carolina is just another reminder that those thoughts are mere illusions. These states are trying to block the civil rights of LGBT individuals and make it legal for anyone to infringe upon them. This article from Timothy Holbrook attempts to make sense of the reasoning behind these recent laws. I feel he makes a phenomenal case against these bills and presents sound reasoning why it is in our best interest to oppose these types of legislation. The audience that Mr. Holbrook is attempting to reach is more than likely younger individuals who have a more liberal viewpoint. It could be argued that this article was written for anyone who has an opinion on these matters. People who disagree with the bills will be interested in his pleas of common sense decency towards our fellow man. People who agree with the legislation will be interested to know how this might end up affecting them. The subject matter is so controversial that this article is attempting to reach anyone interested, regardless of their viewpoint. …show more content…
Holbrook’s purpose in writing this article is to point out the dangers of these types of legislation. He points out how simple it was to pass a law that legalizes the infringement of civil liberties based solely on differing lifestyles. This sets a dangerous precedent as well as harken back to the days of Jim Crow laws and segregation. He wonders how discrimination can come so easily to our elected government officials and what does that say about us as a society. He also wants to show us the consequences that could come about from these types of bills. Indiana recently passed similar laws and the impact has been overwhelmingly negative on the state. He simply wants everyone involved to take a step back and think about these points
Equality is something that should be given to every human and not earned or be taken away. However, this idea does not present itself during the 1930’s in the southern states including Alabama. African Americans faced overwhelming challenges because of the thought of race superiority. Therefore, racism in the southern states towards African Americans made their lives tough to live because of disparity and inhumane actions towards this particular group of people.
Emmett Till, who was born on July 25, 1941, was 14 years old when he was lynched in Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman. He had traveled from his hometown of Chicago to visit his relatives in the South when two white men arrived at his family’s home and dragged him out at gunpoint.
In Erik Gellman’s book Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of Militant Civil Rights, he sets out with the argument that the National Negro Congress co-aligned with others organizations in order to not only start a militant black-led movement for equal rights, but also eventually as the author states they “launch the first successful industrial labor movement in the US and remake urban politics and culture in America”. The author drew attention to the wide collection of intellectuals from the black community, labor organizers, civil rights activists, and members of the communist party, to separate them from similar organization that might have been active at the time. These activists, he argues “remade the American labor movement into one that wielded powerful demands against industrialists, white supremacists, and the state as never before, positioning civil rights as an urgent necessity.” In Gellman’s study of the National Negro Congress, he is able to discuss how they were able to start a number of grassroots protest movements to disable Jim Crow, while unsuccessful in dealing a “death blow to Jim Crow”, they were able to affect the American labor movement.
The Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Jim Crow policing is not a problem, the way certain cops are using it is becoming a problem in certain cities. A Witness of Jim Crow Policing and Racial Profiling, Bob Herbert, believes that the New York police department needs to be restrained due to his personal experiences. The author uses many examples to strengthen his argument in order to influence others to be against Jim Crow policing, yet throughout his article he lets his emotion show too much losing his credibility and straying from logic versus his opinion.
America is a façade hidden behind its notorious past, with an even more troubling present. The land of the free, home of the brave, and one nation claimed to be united under the presence of an omnipotent power, but is it really? America profits off of the so-called dream that is sold to the hopeful and broken. This nation has been riddled with violence, persecution, hatred, and a false sense of togetherness. Racism was not the beginning, it was the ending result of a power struggle between those who wanted control and those who had it. The systematic enslavement and dehumanization of blacks resulted in the concept of a racial caste division, creating the idea of us vs. them (Wacquant, 2002). The Jim Crow laws, prisons, and the creation of ghettos
Throughout American history, we have seen the United States become more progressive in their social issues, such as the abolishment of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the Civil Rights Movement. But as time has passed, we have encountered another group that is being discriminated against: homosexuals. Some states try their best to give equal rights to homosexuals so that they are respected as equally as everyone else. But in many states, such as Kansas and Arizona, private companies and businesses are given the right to turn down homosexual couples if it interferes with their religious beliefs. These two states also included places like hospitals where homosexuals can be denied from medical attention. These laws are very inhumane and are very hurtful to a large population of people today. But what if the people in states such as Kansas and Arizona think it is okay to have these laws instilled?
Today, more African American adults are under correctional control than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began (Alexander 180). Throughout history, there have been multiple racial caste systems in the United States. In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander defines a “racial caste” as “a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom” (12). Alexander argues that both Jim Crow and slavery functioned as racial caste systems, and that our current system of mass incarceration functions as a similar caste system, which she labels “The New Jim Crow”. There is now a silent Jim Crow in our nation. Mass incarceration today serves the same function as did slavery before the Civil War and Jim Crow laws after the Civil War - to uphold a racial caste system.
Danny Thiemann Mrs. Fleetwood English I-C 13 April 2014 Separate but not equal Does the name Jim Crow ring a bell? Neither singer nor actor, but actually the name for the Separate but Equal (Jim Crow) Laws of the 1900s. Separate but Equal Laws stated that businesses and public places had to have separate, but equal, facilities for minorities and Caucasian people. Unfortunately, they usually have different levels of maintenance or quality.
The laws known as “Jim Crow” were laws presented to basically establish racial apartheid in the United States. These laws were more than in effect for “for three centuries of a century beginning in the 1800s” according to a Jim Crow Law article on PBS. Many try to say these laws didn’t have that big of an effect on African American lives but in affected almost everything in their daily life from segregation of things: such as schools, parks, restrooms, libraries, bus seatings, and also restaurants. The government got away with this because of the legal theory “separate but equal” but none of the blacks establishments were to the same standards of the whites. Signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” were seen at places all arounds cities.
The ruling of Baehr vs. Lewin was a victory for gay rights activists, hope for other states searching for the same freedom, and disappointment for opponents of same-sex marriage. Yet this victory was short lived (until complete legalization in November 13, 2013) since the state appealed the lower court’s decis...
Congress hereby finds and declares that the time has come to end lesbian/gay discrimination and disputes in pursuit of human equality. Currently in the United States, only 17 states out of our 50 states have legalized same-sex marriage, with the other 33 having banned same-sex marriage. Whether the adoption of a child is legal for a gay/lesbian parent is still determined on a case-to-case basis. Of the total amount of children in U.S. households, less than one percent live with same-sex parents, and of that one percent, only 27.2% of those households have adopted or stepchildren. Gay and lesbian teens are two to three times as more likely to commit teen suicide than other youths. About 30 percent of all completed suicides are related to sexual identity crisis. LGBT students are also five times more likely to miss school because of lack of security due to bullying. And while the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law has been repealed, transgender soldiers still may not openly serve in the United States military. If these statistics seem alarming, don’t worry; they should. These facts are just minor proof of the injustice we have served to strangers, friends, and family members, who are all human beings with the same natural rights as everyone else. With the l...
Many perceived the act as being unconstitutional. They claimed that the bill created a “privileged class” and tried to label all crimes as hate crimes. Erba (2014) found opponents thought that the act was vague because there was no definition of disability and sexual orientation. When listing the protected people under the HCPA one is left to guess who exactly those people are. For example, in Illinois under the terms of sexual orientation a person who identifies themselves as bisexual is protected under the act but in Arizona they are not (Erba, 2014). The vagueness of the act suggests that it is more symbolic than it is
However, despite the growing arguments they are all nothing new to the states. in fact, the first noted case on same sex marriage was brought to the supreme court in 1972. The dream for everyone’s equality, including same sex couples, has been an issue within America for many years. Unfortunately, matters like this aren’t restricted by a time frame. In the year of 2013 the Department of Defense began allowing same-sex couples to apply for marriage identification cards. As each state began giving the O.K for these couples, we were also taking steps that were bringing us closer to achieving our dream. Unfortunately not all states feel the same. It was during this time that Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana refused to process applications. As the arguments continue to drag on The American Dream is becoming harder and harder to achieve. Meanwhile, In Iowa the legalization of same sex marriage was passed and couples rushed to fill out their applications. Unfortunately, like all good things this didn’t last long. “The chance was fleeting. After four hours, Robert B. Hanson, the same county judge who had deemed the ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, delayed further granting of licenses until the Iowa Supreme Court decided whether to consider an appeal. [...] Here, the brief flurry of applications for marriage licenses was low key. About 20 couples applied before a
Florida’s, Texas’s and Kentucky’s new proposed bathroom laws have “caused fear and dismay among transgender people around the country” (Tannehill). Kentucky laws are more focused on the school systems but Florida 's and Texas’s laws treat transgenders as if they were criminals. Both of these states have regulations that will give transgenders civil and or criminal charges for using the bathroom they identify with (Tannehill). A transgender could be charged a fine for using the wrong bathroom and “people who report a transgender people in the bathroom to claim civil damages, for example a bounty” (Tannehill). Florida and Texas are trying to look out for the best interest of the majority population, however, “we all have to use the bathroom, but these laws would seemingly force transgender people to choose between fines and jail, risking horrific violence or leaving the state” (Tannehill). These laws have been seen as unreasonable to the transgender community and have been fought by the ACLU lawyer Joshua Block, “We’re talking about people who also have their sense of privacy and modesty, and who are not going to want to have everyone see an anatomical part of themselves that they feel should never have been there in the first place,” (Marcus). It has also been found that it’s illegal for employers to carry out such rules, “The Equal Employment