Racial Discrimination In America

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Discrimination is defined as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people” (Merriam-Webster). There are possible explanations for discrimination: irrationality and exploitation. To provide a common ground for this chaos, laws are established and enforced. However, the law isn't a pure realm free of the prejudices that plague everyday life. This subject to the same problems as society at large. “Black's Law Dictionary mentions, that the institutions of the government is to regulate the relationships among members of a society and between the society and outsiders' and that they have the authority to make decisions for the society' to meet goals and maintain order” (What Is Government). …show more content…
The Civil Rights Act also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC, is an effort for the government to enforce laws against job discrimination. Just a decade earlier in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to maintain separate schools based on the color of a person’s skin. The case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka changed America forever. This court case, overturned the separate but equal doctrine that was established in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson just four years before the turn of the 20th century. As the government continued to make every man in the Unites States equal in 1965 the government passed the Voting Rights Act; which suspended voter qualification tests. With the suspension of the voter qualification tests, there was an increase of black voter registration (Learning to Give…). Throughout the century of 1865 to 1965 the government had ended slavery and involuntary servitude, banned racial segregation in public schools, had forbid discrimination in public places, and protected the freedom for African Americans to vote. All of these acts, government agencies that were formed, and laws that were put in place were all efforts to help unite United States’ citizens, regardless of race, to achieve a common goal of equal opportunity. In …show more content…
In Maycomb the poorest white man was still superior than the richest black man. In Chapter 16, of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem talks with Miss Maudie about how Tom Robinson’s trial has to be public or it would not be fair. Making Tom Robinson’s trial public and appointing Atticus Finch as his lawyer was a way the government officials in Maycom tried giving Tom Robinson a fair trial. Mr. Ewell says, "I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella” (Lee 175)! Even though discrimination is illegal this does not stop Mr Ewell from expressing his offensive opinion about Tom Robinson. Even though the law says that Mr Ewell and Tom Robinson are equal, Mr Ewell dehumanizes Tom Robinson. In Mr Ewell’s statement he does not use his name but refers to Tom Robinson as a “black nigger.” Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the law did it’s best to try and give blacks the same opportunity as whites. The government abided by the law as best as they could, but there is only so much the law can do to help change society’s way of

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