Civil Rights Movement

1
Civil Rights Movement

• Summary and Modern Concerns

2
Thus Far . . .

• Focus on Rights of African-Americans
• Factors in Change
• Electoral Strength
• Organization (NAACP)
• Working within the system lobbying, litigation
• Grassroots protests, boycotts, civil
  disobedience
• Changing Public Opinion
• National Leadership (Truman, Kennedy, Johnson)

3
Changes

• Courts Interpretation of 14th Amendment
• Strict Scrutiny for Suspect Classification of
  Race
• Compelling government interest
• Means narrowly tailored
• Legislation
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Fair Housing Act

4
Contemporary IssuesOther Racial and Ethnic
Minorities

• Latinos
• Asian Americans
• Native Americans

5
What Is Affirmative Action?

• Race-conscious policies designed to increase
  opportunities for women and minorities
• Goals
• Remedying the effects of past discrimination by
  the organization creating the policy
• Remedying the effects of discrimination in
  earlier stages of education, training, and
  employment
• Increasing diversity within the organization
  creating the policy

6
Arguments in Favor of AA

• Discrimination is class-based, so remedy should
  be as well
• Provides a catalyst for eliminating institutional
  and social inequalities
• Creates a diverse educational or labor force
  which is (arguably) inherently more productive

7
Arguments Against AA

• Conservative Arguments
• Our system is supposed to reward individual
  achievement, regardless of group membership
• We cannot overcome group-based discrimination by
  perpetuating group-based decisions
• Critical Race/Gender Theory
• Creates the impression that minorities/women
  cannot achieve on their own merits (actually
  undermines tolerance)
• Encourages tokenism and creates the illusion
  that discrimination is fixed

8
Affirmative Action and the Equal Protection Clause

• When were talking about AA policies by
  governments as employers or educators
• Race conscious policy strict scrutiny
• Compelling government interest
• Narrowly tailored means for achieving that
  interest

9
AA in State Education The Michigan Cases

• Undergrad
• Points awarded for all sorts of desirable
  characteristics
• Points given for membership in certain racial
  minorities
• Law School
• Mushy admissions
• Race may or may not count, no idea of how much

10
The Michigan Cases

• Amicus briefs supporting the Michigan policies
• 65 American businesses
• 3M, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Eli Lilly,
  Coca-Cola, etc.
• Officers and civilian leaders of the U.S.
  military
• Wesley Clark, Norman Schwarzkopf, Anthony Zinni

11
What the Court Said

• Compelling Interest
• Diversity in education is a compelling interest
• Narrowly Tailored Means
• Mechanical treatment of race is not acceptable
• Law schools individualized analysis is o.k.
• Undergrads point system is not o.k.
• Similarly, straight quotas and set-aside programs
  are not o.k.