Civil Rights and Racism in Modern America - Essay Example

The Issues of Civil Rights and Racism in America Today Civil rights are the basic legal rights of every citizen upheld by law in most states and these rights constitute free and equal citizenship among others. The civil rights movement in America is one of the most important movements in American history and it was simply a movement addressing racism and injustices affecting the blacks in American society. Mostly, the term civil rights is associated with the struggle for equality of African Americans and their major concern was to secure the status of equal citizenship in a liberal democratic state. Studies on the quality of life in American society reveal that African Americans are the most disadvantaged and continue to lag behind the whites in every aspect in the society. For instance, African Americans tend to have low quality education, have difficulty getting employed and also accessing quality health care among others and this clearly indicates the depth of racial inequality in American society. This paper discusses how different individuals understand the issues of civil tights and racism in American society today and it covers the liberal ideals that assisted in promoting civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was a struggle by the African Americans to achieve equal civil rights as the whites including equal employment opportunities, good housing, quality education, voting rights, equal access to public facilities and most importantly the right to be free of racial discrimination. Therefore, this movement was particularly “organized to protest the unfair treatment of black Americans” (Wright 4). Basically, this movement aimed at ensuring that African Americans enjoyed the citizenship rights assured by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the U.S Constitution. These amendments were very important to the civil rights movement as they guaranteed every American citizen equal citizenship (Hasday 8). Generally, the civil rights movement prompted gains for African Americans, women as well as persons with disabilities among others. African Americans’ rights of citizenship had been worn by the segregationist Jim Crow laws in the South because under these laws, African Americans were denied the right to vote; they were subjected to segregation; and disadvantaged when it comes to access to education, employment and healthcare among others (Ferrante 190). However, the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1866 which highlighted numerous civil liberties including the right to make contracts, own and sell property and receive equal treatment under the law of the nation (Hasday 13). This act advocated for the civil rights of the black and condemned racial discrimination, subjection and exploitation of African Americans by the southern whites. According to this act, every American citizen had the right to enjoy outlined civil rights in the constitution regardless of race (Hasday 11). This Bill was mainly enacted to end segregation and discrimination in American society (Wright 6), and so it instructed southern states to accord blacks the same civil rights as whites. Notably, African Americans were discriminated by the whites and also the facilities provided between these two groups were unequal. Due to the civil rights movement, formal equality and freedom were created and racism was banned. However, the new system that was established to some extent encouraged white supremacy and racism and so the blacks were still separated and seen as unequal and occupied subordinate status in the United States (Smith 4). Notably, some of the fundamental liberal ideals that emerged out of the Enlightenment period include freedom of speech, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and equality under the law among others. The Enlightenment was the period of profound intellectual vitality that occurred in the 18th century and it led to the establishment of individuals to freedom and it also emphasized on the use of reason in defining rationality (Zafirovski 50). Modern liberalism is concerned with issues such as the voting rights of every adult citizen, equal rights, and promotion of the general welfare of all citizens including equal right to education opportunities as well as access to health care and so on. All these indicates that liberalism and liberal ideals support the civil rights movement because the major concerns of the liberalist is the same as those addressed in the civil rights movement. Liberalism is the belief in freedom and equal rights and also those individuals participating or advocating for civil rights movement mainly address the issue of equal rights and equal treatment regardless of a person’s background. Undoubtedly, segments of American society experienced the civil rights movement and its aftermath differently. For the blacks, this movement was to help them have equal rights just as the whites who were seen as superior and enjoyed all their rights of citizenship. African Americans were the most disadvantaged in the American society as they did not have an equal access to quality education, quality healthcare and voting rights among others. The black American struggled for equality especially equal citizenship just as the whites. The major concern of the African Americans was to have equal freedom and land of their own because they were tired of being treated as slaves, discriminated and oppressed by the Southern whites. More so, the northern urban African Americans protested against discrimination in access to employment opportunities and housing (Gaines 57). On the other hand, some whites perceived the movement as a hindrance to their superiority and status in the society. For instance, the Southern whites strongly opposed the movement as they wanted to continue exploiting African Americans and extended few civil rights and they never supported social equality. In conclusion, racial discrimination was a major problem in American society and it still exists in some places despite the various interventions that have been established to eradicate it. The American blacks are the most affected individuals as they have experienced discrimination, exploitation, oppression and segregation from the superior whites. The civil rights movement was one of the most important movements in American history and it was mainly organized to protest unequal and unfair treatment of the blacks in American society. They struggled for equality and equal citizenship just as the whites, for instance, they wanted equal access to quality education, health care, employment opportunities as well as the right to vote among others. The issues addressed in the civil rights movement were the same as the major concerns of the liberalists and so the liberal ideals that emerged during the Enlightenment period supported this movement. Works Cited Ferrante, Joan. Sociology: A Global Perspective. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2014. Gaines, Kevin. The Civil Rights Movement in World Perspective. OAH Magazine Of History 21.1 (2007): 57-64. Hasday, Judy L. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: An End to Racial Segregation. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. Print. Smith, Robert C. Encyclopedia of African American Politics. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2003. Print. Wright, Susan. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Landmark Antidiscrimination Legislation. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2006. Print. Zafirovski, Milan. The Enlightenment and Its Effects on Modern Society. New York: Springer, 2011. Print. Read More