Intro to law and justice ch 13 ppt

Law, Justice, and Society:A Sociolegal Introduction

Chapter 13Racial Minorities and the Law

Racial Minorities and the Law

Slavery Not in Constitution • Constitution and Declaration of Independence

contain language that appears to outlaw slavery.

• Somerset v. Stewart• Constitution has language supportive of slavery

– Article I, sections 9 and 2; Article IV, section 2

• United States, Appellants v. The Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad (1841)– USSC released slaves based on argument that their

freedom is based on the natural law principles in the Declaration of Independence.

African Americans


• Scott v. Sandford (1857)– USSC approved the continuation and the

expansion of slavery.

• Dred Scott case– Court ruled that under Article III, no Black

person, even if free, could be a citizen of the United States and thus had no standing to sue in federal court.

• Dealt with Missouri Compromise of 1820– Court ruled it unconstitutional.

• Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854– Opened up areas of the West to slavery

African Americans (cont.)


Emancipation and the Reconstruction Period• After the Emancipation Proclamation,

Congress passed Thirteenth Amendment.• Freedman’s Bureau

– Supplied former slaves with food, clothing, schools, and land

• African Americans served on juries and held office.

• Desegregation was normal.



Emancipation and the Reconstruction Period (cont.)

• South passed Black Codes.– Passed under the assumption that freed

slaves would not work unless forced to– Struck down by Fourteenth Amendment

• Fifteenth Amendment – Passed in 1870 – Granted suffrage to African American males



Jim Crow laws• Segregation laws• Underpinned by racism

– Different from xenophobia and ethnocentrism in that the disliked group is in close contact with the racist group

• Congress passed Civil Rights Act of 1875.• Resulted in the Civil Rights Cases (1883)

– Private entities and individuals can discriminate.



Jim Crow laws (cont.)• Resulted in stripping away of

integration • Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

– Separate but equal doctrine

• William v. Mississippi, 1898– Upheld disenfranchisement



Lynching and Protest• 1892-1968, over 4,743 persons were

lynched. – 70 percent were African American.

• After World War I, returning African American soldiers, along with power of the NAACP, fought against this.

• Resulted in backlash and revival of the KKK– Lynching increased from 36 in 1917 to 60 in

1918 to 76 in 1919.



Lynching and Protest (cont.)• States had (unenforced) anti-lynching laws.• No such federal law• Struck down in Congress in 1918 and 1940;

passed one in 1968 as part of the Civil Rights Act

• In 1981, two white men were convicted for lynching of an African American.– One was the first white man since 1913 to be

executed for murdering an African American.– Signaled the decline of the KKK



“We Shall Overcome”• World War II was the end of Jim Crow.• Fair Employment Practices Committee• Commission on Higher Education

– Smith v. Allwright (1944)• Paved the way for Brown v. Board of

Education (1954)



Congressional Activity• Desegregation did not really happen until

Congress passed Civil Rights Act of 1964.– Power over the purse

• Voting rights did not happen right away after Smith until Voting Rights Act of 1965.

• Civil Rights Act was upheld in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964).

• Voting Rights Act was upheld in South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966).



Cold War and International Pressure• US/USSR and the battle over minds• The “Negro problem” in the United States• Government filed briefs in civil rights cases

supporting civil rights due to the image of the United States in the international community.

How Far Have We Come?• Either a “rousing success” or a “long way to

go”



Early Years• Practiced physical and cultural genocide

as official policy• Hostilities increased as European settlers

migrated more westerly.• British government "protected" Indians

under the Proclamation Act of 1763.• Continental Congress "protected" them

under the Northwest Ordinance. • Constitution granted quasi-independence

to Indians. • Treaty of Fort Pitt recognized their

sovereignty.

American Indians


Marshall Trilogy• Johnson v. McIntosh, 1823

– Discovery Doctrine

• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831– Domestic dependent nation

• Worcester v. Georgia, 1832– Federal government (not the states) had

authority over Indian affairs.

American Indians (cont.)


Period of Removal and Physical Genocide• Indian Removal Act

– Trail of Tears– Movement of American Indians from all over

Southeast to Indian Territory (Oklahoma)– Dakota Sioux and Oklahoma– Standing Bear v. Crook, 1879

• Indians are people.



Assimilation and Cultural Genocide• Government encouraged destruction of

buffalo • 1871-- treaties could no longer be made;

rather, Congress would unilaterally deal with Indians– Treaties previously entered into with Indians

should still be upheld.– Breaking treaties was nevertheless supported by

USSC in Cherokee Tobacco case of 1871.



Assimilation and Cultural Genocide (cont.)• Termination of treaty making and

treaties rendered Indians as wards of the state--assimilation period lasted until 1934– Civilized and Christianized– Bureau of Indian Affairs

• Ex Parte Crow Dog (1883) • Major Crimes Act of 1885

– Upheld in United States v. Kagama (1886)



Assimilation and Cultural Genocide (cont.)• General Allotment Act of 1887

– Also called the Dawes Act – Division of reservation lands – Sellable to Anglo Americans

• From the time of the Dawes Act to 1934, Indians lost about two thirds of their land to white Americans.

• Jim Crow laws existed to segregate Indians– Upheld in Elk v. Wilkins (1884)– Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903)



The Beginning of the End• Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

– Congress conferred American citizenship to all Indians.

• Indian Reorganization Act of 1934– Ended practice of cultural genocide

• Termination policy in 1953– Devastated tribal welfare and independence



• Indian Self-Determination Act (SDA) of 1975

• American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968How Far Have We Come?• Recompense and United States v. Sioux

Nations (1980)• Oliphant v. Suquamish (1978)• Nevada v. Hicks (2001)



• Chinese and Japanese are largest groups– Came over first

– Suffered great deal of prejudice and discrimination also

• Chinese:– Came over voluntarily– Became targets of legal and

extralegal harassment upon arrival– Subject to stereotypes

Asian Americans


• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882– Passed despite unconstitutionality of similar

legislation passed in regards to Europeans

– Repealed by Congress in 1943• Some states granted naturalized

citizenship.• In Re Ah Yup (1878)

– Only individuals of European or African origins were eligible to become citizens.

• United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)– Government could not deny citizenship to

anyone born in the United States.

Asian Americans


• This did not mean foreign-born Asians could become naturalized citizens.– Ozawa v. Unite States (1922)

• Court explicitly said they could not.

• Asian Americans were allowed greater level of assimilation than African Americans. – Allowed into integrated schools by early 1900s

• Worst act of discrimination occurred in 1942– Executive Order 9066

• Authorized evacuation and relocation of people of Japanese ancestry

– Justified as “military necessity”

Asian Americans


• Korematsu v. United States, 1944– Court ruled that although internment was

constitutionally suspect, it was justified during circumstances of wartime “emergency and peril.”

• Government’s need to protect against espionage outweighed individual rights.

• Ex Parte Endo, 1944– Government could not continue to detain a

citizen whom they conceded was loyal to the United States.

• Struggle for redress ended in 1988.• Change from “yellow peril” to “model

minority”

Asian Americans


• Hispanics are largest minority group in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).– Been a “silent minority” until fairly recently

• Few people can identify circumstances, issues, and struggles associated.

• No major civil rights efforts– Group reference tends to be national origin.

• In re Ricardo Rodriguez (1897)• Origin of civil rights concern began with

Mexican American War (1846-1848).– Primary cause was admittance of Texas to

United States in 1845.

Hispanics


• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (TGH)– Ceded over 525,000 square miles of

territory to United States• Present-day Texas, Arizona, California,

Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming

• First minority group to be granted citizenship– Classification listed as “white”

• Have had their share of discriminatory treatment

Hispanics


• Van Reynegan v. Bolton (1877)– Court ruled in favor of descendants of

Mexican land grant claimants.• U.S. had long history of welcoming

Hispanics one at a time and expelling them at another.– Late 1800s and early 1900s

• Mexican Americans were employed by large agricultural enterprises in southern California.

Hispanics


• During Great Depression state governments passed legislation barring employment of aliens on projects funded by government.

• Bracero Program (1942)– Called for the importation of temporary contract

laborers from Mexico to U.S. during severe labor shortages

• Recruited only fit individuals• Many who did not qualify for program entered illegally.• Caused Mexican military to be deployed along borders

• Operation Wetback (1954)– Cooperative American/Mexican effort to stem

the tide of illegal immigrants

Hispanics


• Many legal battles fought by Hispanics set the stage for battles fought by other groups.– Mendez, et al v. Westminster School District, et

al (1946,1947)• School segregation for Hispanics• Heard seven years before Brown• Court ruled that segregation of Mexican Americans

was invalid because law did not authorize it.

• White v. Regester (1973)– Court ruled that legislative districts within each

state must reflect population demographics and not pre-existing boundaries if they were the result of gerrymandering.

Hispanics


• Hispanics had not been viewed as a “cognizable racial or ethnic group,” but rather as white.

• Hernandez v. Texas (1954)– Court ruled that Fourteenth Amendment rights

extend to all racial/ethnic groups.

• Beginning in early 1980s– Mexican government urged citizens to migrate

to U.S. and send money back home to support families.

– U.S. has seen a massive influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) since that time.

– Currently, not just individual citizens seek vested interests in U.S.

• Drug cartels

Hispanics


– Safety valve for Mexican government• They print a “Migrant Guide” instructing its

nationals how to enter without detection.

• In response to huge influx:– California passed Proposition 187 in 1994

• Known as Save Our State (SOS) initiative– Prohibited illegal aliens from obtaining social

services» Federal judge ruled it unconstitutional.

• Late in forming a powerful civil rights organization– Loudest is Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano

de Aztlan (MEChA).

Hispanics


• Racial, civil, political, and social equality for all groups is now a fact enshrined in the law of the land.– Accepted by all but the most reactionary racists

• There have been numerous individuals representing minority/ethnic groups throughout all facets of our government.– From police officers all the way up to the Presidency

• In the past, courts have functioned as a tool to legitimize the other branches of government.

• More recently, minorities, women, and the working class have been able to use law to resist their domination.– Some argue it has been a “rousing success.”– Some argue that we have “a long way to go.”

How Far Have We Come?