Civil Rights in America Today
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-12/civil-rights-america-today
The crowd applauds speakers from the Southern Equality Movement's We Do rally supporting marriage rights for gay and lesbians in Asheville, N.C. Friday, Oct. 14, 2011.
(AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
At the recent dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C., President Obama said the slain civil rights leader would recognize many challenges our nation faces today, including neighborhoods with underfunded schools and inadequate health care. But since Dr. King’s time, much has changed. Not only African-Americans, but women, Hispanics, and homosexuals have -- and still are -- waging civil rights campaigns. And while some problems persist, great strides have been made toward equal rights, including passage of the Americans with Disabilites Act and the ability of gays to serve openly in the military. Diane and her guests discuss civil rights in America today.
Guests
Wade Henderson
president and CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Hans Von Spakovsky
senior legal fellow, Heritage Foundation and manager of Civil Justice Reform Initiative
Michelle Bernard
founder, and president, Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy
Janet Murguia
president and CEO, National Council of La Raza
Program Highlights
Forty-six years after its passage, the Voting Rights Act is still in the news. South Carolina plans to sue the Department of Justice over its recent rejection of the state's voter ID requirement. Diane and guests talked about the legacy of the civil rights movement and the most pressing civil rights issues today in the U.S.
What Does The Civil Rights Movement Look Like Today?
Michelle Bernard points out that Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke often about economic freedom and poverty during the civil rights movement. But Bernard points out that today, we hear very little public discussion about the poor. "From my perspective today, if you look at Dr. King's message of economic inequality, and you ask yourself what is the most important civil rights issue of today, my personal opinion is that it is education inequality," she said.
Education Inequality
Han Van Spakovsky agrees that education inequality is a serious civil rights issue. Hispanics and African Americans often get poor educational opportunities at the elementary and middle school levels, Spakovsky said. Voucher programs have been tried in several urban areas to try to expand
school choice for poor and minority families, but they are not available everywhere and can generally accomodate only a small number of students.
Voter ID Laws
Another serious civil rights issue today has to do with voting. According to Wade Henderson, at least 14 states have adopted laws making it more difficult for people who would otherwise have been eligible to vote and who have voted in the past to vote again. Some have enacted stricter voter ID laws, some have made it more difficult for those
providing assistance to voters at polling places to do so, and some have challenged third party registrations. Diane asked why it would be difficult for someone to present ID at a polling place, and Henderson said that about 25 percent of the African-American population does not have any photo ID. In some cases, Henderson said, people who had been able to vote for decades were denied the right to vote because they lacked a driver's license or other photo ID.
Equal Rights for Homosexuals
"Given what we saw in New York last year, we have come far, but we have not come far enough," Bernard said. "My personal belief is that it's really none of the state's business and people should be free to marry," she said. "You measure these things by a yardstick and if civil and human rights have meaning for anyone, surely they must have meaning for the gay and lesbian community, as well," Henderson added.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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Strides are being made in nearly every area of Civil Rights at present, all minorities are experiencing advancement..... except where it concerns women.
There is a challenge!
Dominionism is killing the planet, starting with the women.
Dear Dian,
I am a white individual who has had experience in helping a black individual defend himself in the courts of North Carolina. My impression was that railroading of blacks in these courts is common. Public defenders with little desire to defend seem to be common. What is the present attorney general doing to change these violations to the justice system in the South and throughout the United States.
As Dr. Cornell West and Tavis Smiley have been persistently pointing out poverty has not been mentioned in the latest Republican debates by the candidates or the moderators. That poverty in the US is barely ever mentioned by President Obama. Former Senator Edwards was the last candidate to really try to zero on in on poverty the last four or five years.
46.2 percent of the American population finds themselves in poverty...the new poor are often former middle class. Poverty knows no race boundaries. Is this the new civil rights issue? I think so
Dr. West and Tavis Smiley, Micheal Moore tonight at George Washington University discussing poverty tonight...
HOPE THE REHM SHOW HAS THEM ON
Posted at 12:53 PM ET, 01/11/2012
Tavis Smiley, Cornel West and Michael Moore discuss poverty and remaking America at George Washington University
By Fahima Haque
Princeton University professor Cornel West. (Amanda Lucier - AP) After traveling to 18 cities in nine states for the ‘The Poverty Tour‘ in August 2011, media personality Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Cornel West will speak at the “Remaking America: From Poverty to Prosperity”discussion at George Washington University on Thursday.
Smiley will moderate the nationally televised event and West is a panelist along with financial advisor Suze Orman, filmmaker Michael Moore, activist Majora Carter, author Barbara Ehrenreich and others. The speakers will discuss solutions to nation’s poverty crisis.
Clearly there have been improvements. We really need improvement with host on MSM outlets when it comes to Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans as host of these shows.
Please talk about the numbers of young Hispanic and African American students who do not graduate from high school. I know Colin Powell has been focusing on this
Michelle on education please discuss the way some states such as the way Ohio distributes education funds Ohio Supreme Court ruled the system unconstitutional four times...yet nothing has changed and certainly will not change with Republican Governor Kasich who slashed education funding by 780 million
Dear Diane,
I cannot disagree with your guest more regarding the affirmative action efforts in higher education. As an African American, I have come to realize that "equality" in this context is not "sameness." If there has been a concerted systematic effort over several generations to exclude, exploit, and subjugate my race, then what is wrong with taking steps to remedy the situation? This is one of the points that leads to a disconnect between many African Americans/ethnic minorities from white liberals.
Why would we be trying to move any children, poor or rich, to a "better" school? I can't believe that every child doesn't want to better him or herself, given the opportunity and encouragement. We should be trying to improve the schools and the system from the bottom up instead of moving kids around based on our perceptions of who is more motivated, needy or deserving.
Please comment on the role of Native Americans and Civil Rights. This particular population is almost always ignored in this kind of discussion.
The fact that there was no decrease in the number of minority or black voters between the 2004 election and the 2008 election may not be evidence that there was no voter suppression. It might be evidence that the attempt at voter suppression didn't make a difference because there was a black man running for president so more minorities than usual turned out to vote!
It's very sad to see the U.S. moving back to the dark ages, as a Canadian to hear the GOP talk about liberty and freedom and then suppress certain people from voting is hypocritical. Whether it's voting machines or intimidation the GOP will do anything to win. Your politics is already corrupt enough isn't it?.
Unfortunately, there is no constitutional right to vote. I think we need an ammendment guaranteeing this.
You must recall that the roots of discrimination in this country are economic. The labor of Africans in America was appropriated for the benefits of slave holders in exchange for subsistence nutrition and shelter. The lands of native Americans and Hawaiians were taken repeatedly for the economic use of whites. Over time, laws were passed to codify these advantages to whites and, most importantly, a set of beliefs was promulgated that those being discriminated against actually deserved it. It is this belief system that is still largely in place, though the expression of it has evolved to fit the socially acceptable norms of the times. However, the enormous economic disadvantage of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans is largely unchanged and we have a new and updated American rationale for why that's "right". The focus on "civil rights" has only helped to conceal the great disparities in equal rights.
Diane, please ask your panel --
By how much does the number of suspected illegal votes exceed the number of probable legal votes among previous voters likely to decline?
Wade Black
Executive Director
The Birmingham Pledge Foundation
Question for today's panel:
I live in Ohio. How do we change how we vote in Ohio primaries. Ohio states that one must declare a party before we are allowed to vote in a primary election. This must be changed but what
is the process?
There is evidence of Racial Profiling in Arizona. I had an Iraqi student with papers held for 15 hours. The police insulted him and refused to listen to him. I have another friend who is an advertising executive who was stopped because he was dark.
As to voter fraud
I met two students who worked the Ohio polls during 2004. They both said that there were lots of problems at their poll and these issues were never investigated.
There was a successful effort to restrict blacks from voting in Florida in November, 2000. Not only was the effort successful, because the success was not reported on Fox News, many believe it never happened. When the documentary on the subject “Unprecedented” was shown and advertised in my local newspaper, I was the only person in the city to attend. While efforts to block blacks from voting have been less overt since 2000, one would be foolish to believe that the success in 2000 would not be followed by more efforts in this direction.
While race and gender are still the basis for much obvious discrimination, I think the today's greatest civil rights challenge is poverty. Apartheid exists in America; it is economic. I think it was the TV character George Jefferson who spoke of "having enough green to cover my black." I think an obviously homeless white male will expereince much more discrimination than a well-dressed and successful-looking black man. Most of the challenges of the poor and working class (the vast majority of Americans) are race-neutral. Yet we allow those in power to continue to use race to keep us divided, lest we organize and hold them accountable. I wonder whether or not a program such as this is inadvertenly being used as a pawn in this effort?
I'm dismayed by Ms Murgia's last comment on the changes to cocaine & crack sentencing.
No one is telling families or communities to recommend cocaine over crack because you get a lesser sentence with cocaine. Of course we should tell our youngsters to not do drugs. The problem is that for whatever reason (cheaper?), crack is used more by the drug users from the minority population and cocaine is used more by the white drug users from the white/majority population. The two drugs are comparable in their effects and there appears to be no objective reason for the disparity in sentencing, but in the case with the longer sentences, most defendants are black.
The goal is to punish black & white drug users of cocaine fairly & equally!
My dad is in a retirement home and only leaves for family celebrations and to vote.
Unfortunately they don't give you a state I.D when you give up the privilege to drive and he doesn't have a photo I.D.
Dad fought in WW2 and said that we fought to preserve our freedom-including the right to vote. He wonders why an obstacle is being placed in front of his rights. Jefferson County is in bankruptcy and it is impossible to get a photo I.D. without standing in long long lines and this is not possible for this citizen.
Republicans think that Democrats 'stuff' ballot boxes; Democrats think Republicans want to keep legitimate voters from voting. The stuffing ballot boxes probably was true 60 years ago. Karl Rove and his ilk do want to keep the workers (and out-of-work) people from voting. But the real problem in the next election will be the voting machines which can be manipulated.
The caller who mentioned birth certificates, etc. had some valid points. It took me 9 months to get a copy of my birth certificate last year.
I think it's time for a consititutional ammendment to guarantee the right to vote. (If you think you already have a consitutional right to vote you'd better read it again.)
Unbelievable! Guest Michelle Bernard in one and the same sentence said, "it's none of the state's business, and people should be free to marry."
Ms. Bernard, marriage is a defined LEGAL status, and eo ipso IS the state's business!
If you want to call yourself "married" on a private, informal basis, fine, go ahead. But if you want legal status and recognition as a marriage -- with the benefits that attach thereto -- then you'd better believe it is the state's business whether or not your arrangement legally qualifies as a marriage!
I've had it with this kind of tortuous illogic on the part of SSM advocates.
Well, I didn't read every comment all the way through, but most of them. The funniest, once again goes to Teece Bowman who said,
"Strides are being made in nearly every area of Civil Rights at present, all minorities are experiencing advancement..... except where it concerns women".
Earth to Teece. Women are NOT a minority. In fact, in most countries, due to life expectancy, women are the majority.
http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_gender.aspx
Are they unfairly descriminated against? A different discussion. But it is NOT because they are a "minority".
Your decision to have Hans von Spakowsky as a guest is just offensive period. His contamination of the federal elections commission and opposition to minority voting rights generally is worth a story all its own. Not knowing von Spakowsky's history of efforts to repress minority voting rights (which is ongoing via his championing of voter ID laws) is just embarrassing.
As for comments against affirmative action, they seem laughable when even in some blue states, a majority of black males never even graduate from high school in the first place. Everybody else who graduates at normal rates is already getting unfairly advantaged in the competition for jobs and college slots by not having to compete against black men who never got a chance. And anybody who wants to blame black boys themselves for their own failure to graduate from high school is seriously overlooking the fact that children ARE NEVER responsible for the circumstances into which they are born.
RE: the trend toward the abrogation of our civil rights:
The threat of “terrorism” has been inappropriately expanded to the point where it violates first amendment rights to free speech. For example, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act essentially protects corporations, drug companies, factory farms etc. from the lawful scrutiny and protests about their inhumane treatment of animals. This act, vaguely written, labels animal activists as terrorists, can charge them with a felony, fine them and/or give them jail time if they engage in lawful protests. This is a clear violation of American citizens’ civil rights. As a response, the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a law suit. Blum VS. Holder was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on December 15, 2011.
This law, in conjunction with the recent law passed that takes away American citizens’ rights to a lawyer if charged with terrorism, is very troublesome from the perspective of the chilling effect it is having our civil liberties. Heads up America!
Robin, where is your proof that the GOP is intimating voters? You can't buy tobacco products, alcohol, spray paint and Claritin D in stores without a picture ID with proof of age. I had to show my drivers license to renew my library card. I find it hard to believe that they can't obtain a state ID, unless they are not making a concerted effort to get one. In my state a non driver ID is $19 for seven years, half price for seniors. Many states will give poor folks one for free.
Perhaps if the people that purport to really care about this issue would devote more time to help and not just be there during election years more would get done.
As for intimidation, our current attorney general declined to investigate older white voters in Philadelphia who were harassed at polling locations by black panthers.
PS The majority of locations where these poor less educated people live are controlled by Democrats who only go to these places during elections.
Can some one tell me the last time they saw John Kerry in a inner city area?
Anybody who thinks that all children want to better themselves should have my job (substitute teacher) for a month. Not a day, a month, so that you can see 20 different classrooms, so you can get a broad enough perspective to be entitled to an opinion. Obviously, who you go to school with DOES matter -- OBVIOUSLY.
I can't understand why the person who said this thinks it would have been better for HIM to go to school with people who were going to be bullying him or encouraging him NOT to study. And that is indeed what the school culture will impose, in some schools.
I don't know if the writer of this HAS children, but I do know that if he does, he wants them to go to a better school and not a worse one. Usually, people presenting the writer's view are people who live geographically near a better school and are trying to shout down all attempts by people who cannot afford to live in a neighborhood near such a school to get a better education for their children.
What does the writer even mean by "improve the system from the bottom up"? "Improving" a classroom where the overwhelming culture values fighting and texting over studying is not something that the writer or anyone else knows how to do.
The commentary on immigration is, uh... underwhelming. The reason why Arizona and Alabama are passing laws that largely mirror federal laws, is ***because the Feds haven't been enforcing federal laws***!
The reason a lot of people are so angry about immigration is because they are losing their jobs to mass immigration, as that wonderful liberal NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof so eloquently described in his column, "Compassion that Hurts," which you can google, or find here:
select.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/opinion/09kristof.html
If the numbers of immigrants weren't so extreme, it wouldn't be an issue. Immigrants added the equivalent of three New Jerseys to the population in the '90s, and that pace kept growing at a similar rate in the '00s until the economy tanked.
You can enforce the immigration laws or you can aid and abet illegal immigration. Our country has been doing the latter because Republicans like the cheap labor, and Democrats think that when they legalize the illegal immigrants, they will have a whole bunch of new Democratic voters.
La Raza has an open borders agenda, and really doesn't deserve to have a representative on your usually wonderful program.
Listened to the rebroadcast of the show which had for the most part a good discussion. But one of the parting comments from the guest about drug use was about as stupid a remark as I have ever heard. All she thought was necessary was to tell our children not to use drugs and that would solve any issues with respect to discrepancies between penalties for use of crack versus cocaine. Like all of the teenagers out there that experiment and use drugs and alcohol just lacked a parent to tell them not to do so. Yeah right! Sigh..........