Minorities fight for civil
rights
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
Equality for minorities in America is still a work
in progress, said one Purdue political science professor.
J.L. Jeffries said efforts have been made to improve
the country's status concerning minority issues but everything is not
yet settled.
One of the most recent examples of diversity struggles
is the resignation of William Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, on Tuesday. The commission regulates content of the media.
Many media outlets have suggested that his resignation
is a result of a court decision that stopped a set of equal employment
opportunity laws that were created by the commission. The laws reaffirmed
the commission's ongoing anti-discrimination policy and emphasized equal
opportunity for employment among all Americans.
In a news release Kennard said, "Today's decision
is a defeat for diversity."
Americans are outraged at the lack of minorities
in prime-time television, Kennard said.
Diversity issues are not only common in the media;
Jeffries said racial profiling, police brutality and the issue of reparations
are prevalent in America today.
Racial profiling is the surveillance of people
based on color — for example, using the stereotypical notion that
black people are more likely to commit crime than their white counterparts,
said Jeffries.
Police unjustifiably stop black males on the highway
and follow them in convenience stores for suspicion of shoplifting,
said Jeffries.
Jeffries sees no action being taken against the
issue.
"No action is being taken because racial profiling
only affects a minority and in this nation majority rules," said Jeffries.
In the '50s and '60s police brutality toward minorities
was widespread. Many police chiefs in the south were members of racist
organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council,
said Jeffries.
"These chiefs, as well as those who worked under
them, treated black folks as though they were second class citizens,"
said Jeffries.
The issue of reparations has become popular within
the last year, according to Jeffries. On Wednesday, for example, Austria
agreed to pay almost $500 million to Jews who lost property when Nazis
came to power.
Jeffries said that blacks should receive similar
compensation for work that their ancestors did as slaves.
"There have been people of Asian descent who have
gotten money-type compensation for being housed in camps. Possibly we
should look into the compensation of African Americans," said Jeffries.
While trying to provide equal opportunity in this
country, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
tried to encourage black voters to participate in the recent presidential
election.
Robin Winston, chairman of the Indiana Democratic
Party said, "Each day I work to make sure that Martin Luther King's
dream becomes a reality."
Winston said that King's vision of inclusion still
needs work.
The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People is working with Winston to increase the number of black
voters.
Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the association
said in a news release that the organization spent a tremendous amount
of time, money and energy to fund a $12 million high-tech "Get Out The
Vote" campaign that used volunteers, paid staff, multi-media, the Internet
and other sources to enact the organization's largest voting campaign
in its 91-year history.
Mfume said, "Let the record show that this unprecedented
voter empowerment initiative signals that African American voters are
rightfully claiming their place as powerbrokers and stakeholders in
the nation's electoral process."
According to the association, it is the oldest
civil rights organization in America. It has brought people of all different
races, religions and nationalities together through one idea —
all men are created equal.
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