I. Overview History of Race
Issues in the U.S.
• A. 1950’s and 1960’s Civil Rights movements –
Key Events.
•
1. Prior to 1954 a system of segregation –
separate facilities of all types existed based on the
Supreme Court case Plessy v. Fergusen 1896.
•
2. Typically it was practiced at the State
level.
•
3. Brown vs. Board of Education Topeka
Kansas challenged the practice.
•
4. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled in favor
of Linda Brown and reversed their ruling in Plessy
v. Fergusen.
Segregation
In Plessy vs. Fergusson the Supreme Court ruled that separate facilities
were constitutional as long as they were equal. However, it was NEVER
EQUAL.
Segregation
In 1954 the Supreme Court reversed itself in Brown vs. Board
of Education Topeka, Kansas and ruled that because the
system of separate but equal is inherently unequal, it is
unconstitutional.
Desegregation Begins!
The Warren Court orders desegregation of schools in the 1950’s
And supports continued Civil Rights changes in the 1960’s!
The refusal of the public school to admit Brown, then nine years old in
1951, because she was black led to the Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the
"separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must
be desegregated.
The Brown victory ends
segregation in Public
Schools.
A. 1950’s and 1960’s cont…
• 5. Many clashes took place between states
and the federal government.
• 6. Little Rock, Arkansas most famous.
• 7. Eisenhower uses the 101st Airborne to
protect 9 high school students.
• 8. Governor Faubus attempts to use the
National Guard.
• 9. First major test of the Brown decision.
Little Rock
Images of Protest
Rosa Parks 1955
Dr. King’s “I
have a dream”
Speech – the
pinnacle. 1964
I. Overview cont…
• B. Issues Post 1960’s
•
1. States are slowly enforcing federal
laws specific to race.
•
2. Now, however, individuals are taking
matters into their own hands and selfsegregating themselves.
America begins a rapid period of social and
political change in the 1950’s and 1960’s
C. De Facto Segregation
• 1. Segregation not
enforced by any law.
• 2. Segregation that
exists when social
policy dictates a
separation of the races.
• 3. Where we live??
• 4. Where we educate
our children!
D. 1970’s & 1980’s
• 1. Whites move out of
neighborhoods that
blacks move in to.
• “White Flight”
• 2. Economic Impact.
• 3. Self – fulfilling
prophecy.
• 4. Impact on funding
for schools.
Lean On Me
• A true story of how one man
tries to restore pride to those
left behind. When white flight
takes place and the funds
disappear.
• Joe Clark – Principal at
Eastside High in Patterson N.J.
• “I am trying to address the
problem of black becoming a
permanent underclass in our
society. But no one wants to
talk about that!”
The real Joe Clark holding up his
image in Time Magazine.
Lean on Me
• Many bemoan the American public school
classroom as a place where young people
cannot learn, where drugs are more
prevalent than textbooks, where violence
and vandalism make corridors look like
war zones. For a myriad of reasons, the
sad fact that many American public
schools are waging a losing battle to
complete their mission of training future
generations to lead America.
Lean on Me
•
Clark thwarts those who believe
that the learning process is
disrupted by tough discipline.
Instead of offering sympathy,
Clark held high expectations for
students, challenging them to
develop habits for success and
confronting them when they
failed to perform. On a single day
during his first week at Eastside,
Clark expelled 300 students for
fighting, vandalism, drug
possession, profanity or abusing
teachers. He explains, "If there is
no discipline, there is anarchy.
Good citizenship demands
attention to responsibilities as
well as rights."
Milwaukee Schools 1970’s and
1980’s
• Situations not too unlike
those depicted in the film
transformed Milwaukee
public schools in the
1970’s and 1980’s.
• Two solutions Chapter
220 program and school
choice.
• How are they doing?!?
• The reviews are mixed.
Lean on Me
• The feisty and polsyllabicspeaker Clark was made
for the helm of Eastside
High. After two years of his
leadership, the formerly
raucous institution was
declared a model school
by New Jersey's governor.
Clark himself was named
one of the nation's ten
"Principals of Leadership"
E. 1980’s & 1990’s
• 1. Two major incidents typify the growing resentment of
minority America in the 80’s and 90’s.
• 2. Rodney King – African American motorist who was
beaten repeatedly by Los Angeles police officers on March
3, 1991.
•
- 4 officers were brought up on police brutality
charges.
•
- Jury verdict on April 29, 1992 acquitted 3 officers of
the charges. The other the jury was hung as to a decision.
•
- Significance of this incident reveals the helplessness
many of color were feeling in LA at the time. Think back to
“A Class Divided”.
Tapes of the
incident played
nearly non – stop
on the news.
Many were
stunned given
video
L.A. Riots April 29 – May 4,
1992
• Estimates of the number of lives lost during the unrest vary between 50
and 60, with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the
material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion.
Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with
fire calls coming once every minute at some points. About 10,000
people were arrested; about 42% were African-American, 44%
Hispanic, 9% white, and 2% other. These numbers are proportional to
the number of residents in the areas of Los Angeles where the events
occurred, although they are not proportional to the racial make-up of
Los Angeles as a whole. Stores owned by Korean and other Asian
immigrants were widely targeted, although stores owned by whites and
blacks were also targeted. Despite the race riot image the event retains,
much of the looting and violence was done by young men, black,
Hispanic and white, and much of the looting was opportunistic theft of
luxury goods. Criminals used the chaos to their own benefit, and street
gangs settled scores with each other and with the police.
L.A. Riots
1992
WHY??!!???
• In retrospect after 13 years of analysis,
many experts point to these L.A. riots as a
culmination of frustrations many blacks in
America were feeling at the time.
• De facto segregation, police brutality,
injustice, poor schools, no jobs, “left out of
that American dream you see advertised on
TV”.
O.J. Simpson – trial and verdict
• One time football great O.J. Simpson was accused of
murdering his ex-wife and friend June 12, 1994.
• The trial was nationally televised for 133 days and names
such as Marcia Clark, Johnny Cochran and Judge Ito
became household names.
• Despite significant DNA evidence the jury acquitted
Simpson. “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”
• Simpson’s defensive team created a reasonable doubt in
casting suspicion on the LAPD suggesting that because
certain individuals were racist they could have framed
Simpson for the crime.
• 150 million TV viewers when the verdict was announced
on October 3, 1995
• Reactions were significantly split along color lines.
Altered Images
Texas prosecutor may seek death
penalty in dragging death of James
Byrd June 7, 1998.
Two men received death and one life w/o parole.
Denise Simpson holds JaPhcole
Lowry, 7, who was injured in
rioting in Cincinnati, Saturday,
April 14, 2001. Angry crowds
brandished signs and chanted
slogans outside a funeral
service held Saturday for a
black teenager shot to death
by a white police officer.
Cincinnati Police in riot gear stand gaurd as firefighters put out a fire
started by vandals in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood section of
downtown Cincinnati, Tuesday, April 10, 2001. Protests over the fatal
police shooting of an unarmed black man on Saturday have turned
violent as demonstrators broke store windows and started fires in the
downtown area.
Police in riot gear block a street in Cincinnati, Tuesday, April 10, 2001,
where about 50 people roamed the area breaking windows in a protest
over the police shooting of an unarmed black man. The confrontation
came four days after Timothy Thomas, 19, was fatally shot as he fled a
police officer trying to arrest him on 14 misdemeanor warrants.
Cincinnati police
point riot guns at
demonstrators,
Tuesday,
April 10, 2001, in
Cincinnati. Police
fired bean bags and
rubber bullets to
quell demonstrators
who broke windows
downtown Tuesday
in a protest over the
police shooting of
an unarmed black
man.
Hate Crime Statistics
In 2004 there were
9,528 victims of
Hate Crimes.
FBI Statistics
Hate Crimes
• Hate Motivates!
• Hate groups manipulate
your stereotypes and
provide incentives for you
to take action.
• Where does hate begin?
• What justifications do
some give for heinous acts
against their fellow human
beings??
• Shadow of Hate reading
and assignment.
Cases from 1995 - Present
• Where do we see the
negative stereotypes
portrayed in today’s
society?
• To what extent do hate
crimes or other less
violent acts of
discrimination take place
in American society?
• Your research will help us
answer those questions!
Self – Defense???
• Perhaps an even more
disturbing trend has
become the justification of
certain actions based on
stereotypes.
• This exists beneath the
surface but has an even
more damaging outcome.
• Shown in video “Why
can’t we live together.”
In summary
Do you share his dream??
• Do we still have issues to
overcome with regard to
race relations in the U.S. ?
• Racial Profiling
• Police Brutality
• Workforce Harassment
• De facto Segregation
• School funding
• Retail Service
• Where does it start??
Where does it end??
• Are you truly able to
relate positively to
someone different from
yourself????