2. Immigrant: LEGAL alien from a different country.
3. Reservation: public land given to the Native Americans by the U.S. Government.
4. Refugee: go to a new land seeking protection.
5. Assimilation: adapting to the majority's culture.
-The population of the US prominently white-today and has been historically as well.
-Populations that have grown
- African American
- Hispanic American
- Asian American
-More females than males
African Americans
- have been victims of consistent and deliberate unjust treatment for a longer time
- constitute a big majority of the US 14% of all American people
- most of the gains have been made by African Americans
Native Americans
- 1600s nearly 6million is the states
- American settlers brought diseases that hurt the Indian population
- poverty, joblessness, and alcoholism
- Indian Education Act attempted to fix and help the lives of the Native Americans
Hispanic Americans
- spanish-speaking
- largest in the states
- Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Central and South Americans
- Chinese laborers were the 1st Asians to come to America
- WWII-all Japanese were evacuated to the Pacific Coast
- even native born
- Congress admitted this was wrong and changed its ways
Section 3.
-Those who oppose Civil Rights often believe you can't change morality by passing a law
-Dr. King: "Judicial decrees...may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless."
-1870s-1905s: no meaningful legislation passed in regards to civil rights
-The Civil Rights Act of 1964: passes after the longest debate in Senate history (83 days)
- Voting provisions
- Public services (restaurants, hotels, theatres, etc.) could no longer deny access based on race, religions, etc.
- Federal funding program could not discriminate for the reasons above
- Employers and labor unions also could not discriminate for the above reasons
-Civil Rights Act of 1968 aka Open Housing Act
- cannot refuse selling/rent living space to a person due to race, religion, national origin, physical disability, etc.
- housing is still one of the most segregated areas in American life today
Title IX
- forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in any educational program or program regarding financial assistance.
- equal funding and opportunities must be given to women athletics
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION:
- requires employers take positive steps to fix the affects of past discrimination
- employers must meet quotas for minority groups/genders
- many argue this results in reverse discrimination: discrimination against the majority group; they are denied opportunities so minority groups have more opportunities
- "color blind"
- California, Washington, Michigan, and Nebraska voters passed measures to eliminate all affirmative action plans
- The Bakke Case
- Allan Bakke sued the University of California because he was denied access to their medical school due to Affirmative Action (16/100 seats were reserved for minority students)
- Bakke won
- Since then, the Court has made decisions regarding similar cases; quotas can be used when needed
- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor predicts in 25 years, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary
Section 4.
-An American citizen is a person that swears allegiance to the U.S. and is entitled to its protection and privileges of its law.
-The 14th amendment was the 1st constitutional definition: "All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and of the state wherein they reside."
-The constitution declares that a person becomes an American citizen one of two way
Citizenship by birth:
-90% of Americans were citizen born
Citizenship by naturalization:
-legal process by which a person can become a citizen of another country at some time after birth
-collective naturalization: entire group can be granted citizenship through en masse
Loss of citizenship:
-every American citizen has the right to voluntarily abandon his/her citizenship..this is called Expatriation.
-Congress cannot take away your citizenship
-naturalized citizens CAN lose their citizenship through denationalization-only occurs by a court order and only after it has been shown that the person became an American citizen through fraud or deception.
-marriage does not make a person a "citizen"-only shortens the time of the naturalization process
Immigration:
-Congress has exclusive power to regulate the crossing of this nation's borders: inward and outward
-Immigration Act of 1965 did away with our quota system
-We are currently under the Immigration Act of 1990
-Some people can be denied entrance to the U.S. based on their criminals, mentally ill who might be a harm, etc.
-Deportation: legal process by which aliens are required to leave the country
-Biggest reasons for deportation: illegal immigrant, conviction of a serious crime
