Board of Regents v. Bakke Reaction

Today in the court, we were presented with a precedent setting case, Board of Regents v. Bakke. This case centers around the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. 

This case is based on the University of California's medical school which set a numeric quota for its admissions department. This stated that the university would admit 10 African American students. This interfered with Mr. Bakke's application because while he was one of the most qualified applicants, he did not get accepted due to his skin color.

Arguments from the Board of Regents were made first. The first of which urged the court to consider that Bakke's case should not be thought of in isolation. We were also told of groundbreaking programs at other universities including Clemson and Arizona State which both have Affirmative Action policies. 

We were told by the Board of Regents that their policy was narrowly tailored for a historically discriminated against people group, and that fostering diversity lended increased academic success. We were once again pointed to the idea that this case was about more than Mr. Bakke as we were pointed to black pioneers like Charlene Hunter and James Meredith. 

We were encouraged to think of race as only one factor and realizing that more critical thinking occurs in a diverse student body. We were also pointed to the enhancements made to students' medical education by being involved within a diverse student body.

The lawyers for the Board of Regents also pointed us to a similar policy seen in the Fair Housing Act. We were told that this policy is simply part of a larger zeitgeist. If our country felt it was important enough to have anti-discriminatory policies in housing, we should have similar policies in education as well.

We were also told to look at the policy from an economic perspective. The board argued that the policy at their school would help expand overall diversity in the medical field which would mean increased African American success which would mean the entire economy was better off. 

In the end, the Board pointed us back to the 14th amendment stating that it was neutral on its face and that it is not intended to benefit one race over the other. We were also pointed to the fact that the policy does follow strict scrutiny which is having a compelling interest, there being a close nexus between the law and regulations and then final goals, and it being narrowly tailored to only affect the people it must.

We also heard from the lawyers on the side of Mr. Bakke. The first argument pointed us to the fact that discrimination of any form against any person is unjust. We were told that it does no good to replace one form of discrimination with another. 

We were then pointed to the qualifications of Mr. Bakke who had a 3.5 GPA and excellent scores on his medical exams. We were told that the quota system was unfair because it put emphasis on race when the emphasis should be on a neutral metric system. 

We were also told that excluding one group of students did not empower the other. This idea ran in tandem with the idea that African Americans had many educational opportunities elsewhere. There were many historically black universities in the area, so African Americans were not missing out. 

We were then pointed to economic viewpoint of an argument against this policy. We were told that meritocracy requires economic efficiency to make it financially strong, which does not occur when we lower standards to account for race. We were told the labor market is extremely competitive and needs to consist of hard workers who earned their way there.

Lastly we heard the law argument on the side of Mr. Bakke which pointed us once again to the 14th amendment claiming Mr. Bakke's rights were violated when he was rejected because he was not African American. We were told that he is not just a number and should not be treated as one. We were also pointed to his immense probability of success as we were told he was not responsible for past injustices and should not be punished because of them.

As the judge wrapped up the hearing, the decision was made to rule in favor of a new policy. Neither party won entirely, but instead a compromise was made that race should be just one of many factors when deciding admissions. This way no one is discriminated against and everyone has a fair opportunity to gain an education. 

EOTO Reaction #2

During the second round of EOTO presentations, we were presented with lessons about both the positive and negative sides of the Reconstruction Era.

We learned about the Negro Motorist Green Book which was established in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green. This established safe travel for African Americans by creating community and security for them. The book was published in 1966 and became a symbol of resistance against racial inequality. 

We also learned about the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. This is the only know violent overthrow of the legally elected government. This occurred as a group attempted to dismantle the biracial government in Wilmington. This lead to the death of between 60 and 300 African Americans and led to their dispersion. During the massacre white supremacists targeted black business and households with violent acts. This reversed progress and emboldened similar actions in other parts of the south. 

We were taught about sundown towns which excluded non-whites from coming out into the town after sunset. This made it clear that African Americans were not welcome in these areas. Some towns even had signs up or sounded sirens at sunset. There were about 2,400 of these towns all across the United States.

The horrors of lynchings were also pointed out to us as one of the darkest chapters of violent racial acts. Lynching is the killing of an individual who had not undergone a fair trial. False accusations were often used as a way to justify the extreme brutalities and murders. These became public spectacles and were a way to induce terror. One famous lynching was that of Emmett Till who was beat and then shot in the head before being thrown into a river. News of this event spread like wildfire due to his mother's decision to have an open casket at the funeral.

The last negative we learned about was The Birth of a Nation which was a movie based on The Clansmen. It was a largely inaccurate representation of historical events including Lincoln's assassination, the reconstruction movement, and the KKK.

We also learned about many events on the positive side of reconstruction. One of these events was Executive Order 9981 which was signed by President Truman. This was triggered by discrimination seen among African American veterans. It fought for compliance in desegregation and the dismantling of discriminatory practices. It also advocated for desegregated workplaces.

African Americans in WWII was where the idea for Executive Order 9981 came from. They made significant contributions at home and on the battlefield. More than 1 million African Americans served in the military during this time. They were initially assigned to segregated units as cooks, truck drivers, and laborers, but they persistently campaigned with leadership and skill in battle.

We were taught about Thurgood Marshall who joined the NAACP as a staff lawyer and was declared Chief in 1940. He worked to create legal assault for racial prejudice. He also became a Supreme Court on which his most famous case was Brown v. Board of Education.

Porgy and Bess was the first African American opera which was produced during a time of segregation. It portrays a black disabled man who helps a woman seek refuge from her boyfriend. This opera had an all African American cast which forced people to accept that segregation was starting to deteriorate. 

The final event we learned about was the rise of the second KKK which targeted African Americans, Catholics and Jews. The new klan used modern marketing to grow its influence. It serves as a reminder of how hate can fuel violent movements. 

All of these events are important to our history as they show us how we came to live in the America that stands today. 

EOTO: Civil Rights Era

Today I am going to be teaching about the Orangeburg massacre. This was one of the most violent crimes in SC civil rights history and it all started with a group of college students protesting segregation. 

The lead up to this event began when local business owner, Harry Floyd, refused to integrate his bowling alley, even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. 

On February 5, 1968 a small group of SC State students went to the bowling alley to protest the white-only policy. They were refused entry and left peaceably. As news of this spread across the mostly African American campus of SC State, students rallied together.

The next night, on February 6, a larger group of students went to the bowling alley to protest. When they arrived, they were met by police and firefighters who were threatening to blast them with fire hoses. The students taunted back and began to throw rocks. When a window got broken, the police started beating the students with billy clubs. At the end of the night, 15 students were arrested and 11 were injured, one of which was a police officer.

After the two protests, tensions began to rise and Governor McNair called in the National Guard out of fear that looting and violence would break out. 

On February 8, hundreds of college students gathered alongside civil rights activist, Cleveland Sellers, to protest against the bowling alley and other businesses in the area. The National Guard and police force were called in, led by Chief Pete Strom. They worked to keep the protest on campus and avoid it turning into a riot.

The students started a large bonfire at the front of the campus and began to throw rocks at the police. As firefighters worked to put the fire out, a police officer got hit with a wooden banister. Claiming to have heard a gunshot, the police force opened fire into the darkness as the students scrambled to escape.

Three students were shot and killed that night. Sammy Hammond, who was a freshman at SC State, was shot in the back. 18 year old Henry Smith was shot 3 times. Delano Midleton, a 17 year old highschooler whose mom worked at the school, was shot 7 times. 28 others were injured. 

The incident was claimed to be incited by Cleveland Sellers and other black agitators in the area. Sellers was charged with incitement of a riot. Meanwhile, only 9 out of 70 police officers present at the massacre were charged with shooting at protestors and they were all acquitted. 

The incident was barely even covered in the press because of the Tet Offense in the Vietnam war, which happened at the same time and overshadowed the horrors seen in SC. Much of the coverage the event did get was falsified, with sources like the Associated Press, claiming the students were armed and fired first. This incident is even left out of many textbooks and Civil Rights era reports.

Lack of justice for these students broadened the racial divide in SC. 

The head of the NAACP traveled to SC to protest against the lack of coverage for the massacre. Likewise, the black community took to the streets of Columbia to protest for justice. Martin Luther King Jr. even sent a telegram to President Johnson saying that the deaths in Orangeburg county “lie on the conscience of Chief Strom and the government of South Carolina”. 

Everyone wanted justice for these students, but it was clear that no one was going to get it. It was not until 2003 that SC Governor Mark Sanford offered a written apology. 

Despite apologies, many residents believe the truth of the massacre is still suppressed to this day, and many from the community have vowed to continue to honor the victims and bring light to the injustice that occurred on that day in February of 1968.

Brown v Board of Education: Mock Trial

Today you have been presented with strong arguments in favor of desegregation, looking through the lens of history, religion, and tradition. Now I want to point you to the many economic benefits of integration, especially in schools. 

The case presented to you today is pushing for the racial integration of schools on the basis that it is unconstitutional to separate students by race. The fight for true equality is one that has been going on for some time now. 

As new laws and regulations begin to be passed, African Americans are working their way into creating new lives for themselves which means finding a way to support themselves financially and find economic stability for their families. As you make your ruling though, it is important to think about the economic benefits not only for them, but for this entire nation, which will come out of schools being desegregated. 

Looking first at the effects on the students themselves, integration allows students to feel like they belong and gives them more opportunities to learn in an environment that feels valued and not just pushed to the side. Integration has been shown to reduce drop out rates among African American high school students by 2-3 percentage points. This means that more students are able to finish their degrees and in turn become a valued part of our society, both socially and economically.

When these students succeed in school, they also benefit in their later lives. It has been proven that children in integrated schools have higher incomes as adults, better health outcomes and lower incarceration rates. 

Looking from this perspective, we can see how integration could create generational change. As the students who are in schools now grow up, they will be more equipped to create economic opportunities for themselves and contribute to a flourishing society.

Looking at a more immediate economic benefit, when schools are integrated the demand for urban residence decreases. This in turn causes urban housing and rent prices to go down by 6%, meaning families in these areas are more equipped to sustain a livable income because they do not have to pay as much for the houses they are living in. 

The economic benefits range across all race as well, not only benefiting African Americans but also their white counterparts. White students benefit from desegregation as well because it reduces their fear of hostility and their prejudices. Creating this change early on points to change in their later lives. This means interracial colleges and workplaces allowing cultures to blend and goods to be more widely available. This also allows them to serve more customers and work together with their coworkers far better, no matter their race, leading to a higher economic return.

As you have seen, integrating schools benefits the students by increasing their likelihood of receiving both a high school diploma and college degree; as well as creating more interracial workplaces in their futures leading to decreased costs, increased availability of goods, and ultimately increased wealth for both the individual and our nation. 

In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night is a movie that came out in 1967 starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. This movie centers around the investigation of a murder as it looks at the stereotypes and prejudices present in the South of the United States during the period of "separate but equal". 

This movie points out the harsh discrimination and realities that freed slaves had to face while trying to create lives for themselves. The plot line at the forefront focuses on Virgil Tibbs who is a detective from Philadelphia. He is arrested by Officer Gillespie who believes he committed a murder but when he is proved innocent, he works alongside the other officers to find the true murderer. 

In the background of this main plot, are the lives of the women who are also struggling to make lives for themselves. The fight for equal rights among races was on the rise during this time, but the fight for equal rights among males and females had just begun. 

Women in the Jim Crow South had very little rights and were often looked down upon by their male counterparts. This not only applied to the African American women and the poor women, but also the women who were well off. They were all seen as inferior and had to fight for respect. 

This fight for respect is seen in Mrs. Colbert who has to fight for a proper investigation for her husband's death. Since she is a woman, her perspective is stuffed to the side and they expect her to just accept what the officers believe. However, she knows they are missing something and pushes for them to keep looking for more answers. In the end, she has to threaten the jobs in the town to get them to listen to her. 

Mrs. Colbert had to fight for respect and she was well off so it was even worse for girls like Delores Purdy. Girls like Delores are seen as nothing more than an object. She was pushed around by all the men in her life, whether that meant her brother or the man who impregnated her. Her opinion of her own life did not matter. No one listened to her unless she was telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. 

Lowest on the totem pole were women like Mama Caleba. She was a poor African American woman, so no one thought anything of her and she was regarded as trash. She had no chance at making a life for herself in a society where people of her race and gender were not allowed to speak up or challenge the norms. In order to stay out of plantation work, she performed illegal under the counter abortions. She was forced into breaking the law, just to make a living for herself.

This movie shines light not only on the way freed slaves were treated in the Jim Crow South, but also how women were silenced and constantly had to fight for the life they wanted to live. 

Reconstruction Documentary Reaction

The massacre in Charleston at Mother Emanuel church occurred when a 21 year old drop out with deep hatred for African Americans went to the church and attended bible study before opening fire. The hatred that fueled this violent act dates all the way back to the Reconstruction era at the end of the Civil War. 

During the Reconstruction era, violence was an accepted part of life and worked in tandem with Jim Crow laws. It all began when Robert E Lee surrendered at Appomattox to Ulysses Grant and ended the Civil War. Newly freed slaves began to scatter, but there was still a question as to how they were supposed to start new lives. 

Ulysses S Grant treated the blacks as equal citizens because he knew that having black soldiers was essential to ensure the war ended in abolition, but once it actually ended African Americans' status as citizens was put into question. People began to walk to the places where they had last seen their family members and many posted newspaper ads to try to find them. The 13th amendment was passed in Congress, but it had yet to be ratified by many states. 

President Abraham Lincoln was a big part in ensuring Reconstruction had a positive ending, but when he gave a speech about giving black men the right to vote, many people were in opposition. Shortly after that speech, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. President Andrew Johnson was sworn in not long after Lincoln died and took Reconstruction in a different direction. 

President Johnson set up new state governments in the south and gave them complete authority over the black populations to control them in any way they saw fit. At the time President Johnson was sworn in, Congress was not in session so he had complete control.

Many efforts like the Freedmen's Bureau and 40 acres and a mule took wrong turns when Johnson took office. President Johnson ordered Major General Oliver Howard to take the land given in 40 acres and a mule and return it back to the white confederates. This meant many slaves had nowhere to go and were forced into labor contracts with their past owners simply so they could make enough money to survive.

Racism was the deepest legacy of slavery and it was not going to be wished away simply because the 13th amendment had been passed. Many different laws and regulations were passed like the Black Codes and the Vagrancy laws which only applied to black citizens and forced them back into submission. The white planter class even had the authority to take children from "unfit" parents and put them under apprenticeship where they would be used for their labor and there was no protection from abuse.

The Klu Klux Klan was also created in Tennessee around the same time as the Black Codes. This group acted similar to the slave patrol, but this time controlling freed blacks. Families were often targeted by the klan if they were well off economically or if their children were in school.

Under Johnson, many white confederates forced their way back into Congress where they could once again destroy freedom and equality for the black community. Thaddeus Stevens and other House Republicans called for change and the clerk ignored all southern delegates when calling roll, meaning they were no longer part of Congress. After this Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over President Johnson's veto, which established birth right citizenship. 

Over the next few months riots broke out in towns like Memphis and New Orleans. Many soldiers came back from war with weapons they had bought from the government which resulted in mounted tensions. Confederates went on the hunt and burnt down many houses and churches. Terror went on in Memphis for 3 days before the army gained control. When mobs broke out in New Orleans, many people realized Johnson's Reconstruction plan was not working because he gave black citizens no rights.

The 14th amendment was passed shortly after, redefining rights. This included the law that no state could deny due process and equal protection to any citizen. This also stated that every person born in the United States would be a citizen. 

In order to get states to pass the 14th amendment, they were divided into five military districts which was ruled by generals who forced confederate states to create new laws and constitutions. This also allowed black men to not only vote, but also to hold office. The southern states were told that if these new laws were not passed, the would not be allowed to re-enter the union. This was slightly controversial at the time because not even northern states also black men to vote at this time. At the time, Tennessee was the only southern state still in the union. 

While Reconstruction originally appeared to be a failure, changes to the Constitution may not have been made without the original failed attempts. Within a decade, freedmen went from being slaves to being established into political society. Although it was not a journey without many road blocks. 

Plessy v. Ferguson Reaction

Today the court was presented with the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The facts agreed by both parties include that Louisiana state law stated all private corporation railroads must provide separate accommodations for white and African American citizens. Homer Plessy, a known African American, bought a first class ticket. He was taken off the train, arrested and fined. The lawyers on the side of Plessy want this law struck down in its entirety, making a claim under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. 

The first party to speak was the lawyers on the side of Homer Plessy. The lawyers argued that segregation was a system built to keep African Americans from being able to have full citizenship. They argued that unfair institutions of the past should be destroyed to allow African Americans to move forward. 

The lawyers on the side of Plessy had a strong biblical argument, referencing Genesis 1:4 and Galatians 5:3 to express the point that we were all created equally by God to humbly serve each other and God. The biblical argument was also made that God did not intend for us to be separated, but that the idea of segregation came into the world alongside our sin. We were also reminded in the biblical argument that Homer Plessy is only 1/8 African American. 

The impact segregation has on the economy was made clear to us as we were urged to consider the way taxpayers must pay double for infrastructure due to the need of creating two buses, two schools, and two restrooms simply to ensure segregation continued. The argument was made that the funding we are spending to ensure segregation continues could be used to fund other efforts. 

We also heard a cultural argument on the side of Plessy stating that cultural exchange between African Americans and whites would lead to shred benefits. It was pointed out to us that segregation suggests African American traditions are not as important as their white counterparts.

The last perspective given on the side of Plessy was that of the law. We were pointed to both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence as it was pointed out that Africans Americans life, liberty and pursuit of happiness are being threatened by segregation. Ultimately, this case is an issue with the 14th amendment so we were pointed to the equal protection clause stating that no state shall deny a person equal rights.

The second party to speak was that on the side of the state, what is now referred to as Ferguson. We were pointed to Romans 3:1 which points out the importance of respecting authority and laws put in place. We were also told that the separate but equal doctrine gives all individuals access to their needs while also helping to avoid conflict in the streets. 

The State of Louisiana made a strong economic argument citing Black Wall Street in Galveston, Texas as evidence that one side is not more economically well off than the other. It was argued that integration would cause tension which could scare off customers and would ultimately be bad for businesses. Stark change puts the state at risk of economic collapse which is not necessary.

The state urged us to consider that social order and harmony are only possible if cultural norms and traditions are upheld. We were told that Jim Crow laws are not rules of discrimination, but simply a reflection of the traditions of the time. It was pointed out that relations of different races have always been a sore subject, so it is in the main interest of both races to live harmoniously separated lives. We were told segregation is not meant to take down African Americans, but it gives them a way to continue to live out their different customs and ways of life.

The biblical argument on the side of the state was given referencing Deuteronomy 32:8 and Leviticus 19:19 to push the argument that according to divine order each race has its own place and purpose. We were told that the cure on Ham's descendants in Genesis 9:20 is what forced the African Americans into a life of servitude. The state believes that integration would deny the will of God and go against divine judgement.

The law argument on the side of the state argued that federal law should not intrude on the rights of the states. Each state has different cultural needs, so there should not be a one size fits all law from the federal government concerning segregation. The argued that segregation was standard and fit alongside the Constitution as long as the amenities were of equal value and met the same standards. 

While there were strong arguments made on both sides, Judge Smith ruled on the side of Plessy. The decision was based on the 14th amendment and the evidence that the state was not being as neutral as they wanted the court to believe. The state of the separate railroads was determined to not be equal, hence the judgement on the side of Homer Plessy.