When I was a sprout, racism and sexism were more or less
accepted as the norm for many Americans. (I was born in 1940). Of course there
were also many people who opposed these principles, but the more common
experience was of racism and sexism. During the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s laws
changed and attitudes began to change. Women and minorities began to gain
equality in many arenas. The gains seemed to plateau in the 90’s and a sort of
status quo coasted along. But under this skin of equality there has been a
steady attempt to erode the hard won rights and return America to an older
time. A time before Brown v Board of
Education, Roe v Wade, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act
of 1964. A time when all citizens were not equal in many ways.
And now all these advances are under attack, both overtly
and covertly. Take Brown v Board of Education for example. This Supreme Court
ruling in 1954 effectively eliminated the “separate but equal” myth from public
education. It seemed to work until one after another States began the “Charter
School” movement which ultimately will gut the public school systems and create
elite quasi-private schools funded by tax payers. In many States public funds
are being funneled into schools with religious agendas, clearly a
Constitutional no-no. Public schools are under financial duress in many States
anyway, and siphoning off funds is a sure way to cripple them further.
Look at Roe v Wade for another example. Since the Supreme
Court in 1973 effectively affirmed that a woman had a right to unrestricted
abortion services for the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy, many States have systematically
attempted to chip away at that right by enacting a series of roadblocks to
women seeking this service. The assault goes on today. It is, by the way,
nearly 100% advocated by men, and the attempts to undermine a woman’s right to
control her own body boils down to a “right not to choose”. The hard won
freedom to control her own reproductive process is being assaulted from all
sides.
As far as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act
one needs look only as far as the
Legislative assaults on voters by redistricting, manipulating voting access and
election financing to see the corrosive effect of partisan political influence and the
impact of unlimited donations on elections. Tiny groups of outliers control
agendas, in some cases a single person (Grover Glenn Norquist for example) influence outcomes of
the political process in favor of a minority group such as very rich people.
In all these
instances, hard fought and hard won battles are being undermined and
threatened. The Right to Bear Arms is winning while the Right Not to Bear
Children and the Right to a Quality Public Education are losing.
Shame on you
America. You can and should do Better.
Image: http://martinanewberry.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/statueofliberty.jpg
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