There are many terms frequently used in the discussion of race relations. Many of these terms when used out of the context of race relations have differing meanings. The following definitions are intended to give our readers a frame of reference for these terms in connection with race relations:
Affirmative Action: A policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment.
Example: Judy is a journey structural ironworker and single parent of two teenage sons in Chicago, Illinois. Before entering the trades, she worked two jobs, with no room to advance. She credits her new job to affirmative action and says "employers will not hire without affirmative action." She was one of 20 women in her union of 2,321 members.
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Apartheid: An official policy of racial segregation such as formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites. Also defined as any legally sanctioned policy or practice of separating or segregating groups.
Example: The policy and system of laws implemented and enforced by White minority governments in South Africa from 1948 till 1990.
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Busing: A system of transporting students out of their neighborhoods for the purpose of racial integration.
Example: Judge James B. McMillan orders schools to be racially balanced, even if it means children ride buses to schools far away from their own neighborhoods. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, although 20,000 parents sign petitions against the order, busing begins. Children are assigned to schools in an attempt to achieve racial balance. Still, thousands of parents resist the changes. The U.S. Supreme Court votes unanimously to uphold Judge McMillan's decision to allow busing.
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Civil Rights: The nonpolitical rights of a citizen; the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress.
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Desegregation: Intentional and systematic elimination of racial segregation.
Example: On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The Little Rock School Board voted to adopt a plan to begin in Sept. 1957 and span six years. After much delay and Pres. Eisenhower’s intervention using federal troops, nine black students enter Central High on Sept. 25, 1957. The first black student graduated on May 27, 1958. All grades in Little Rock public schools are finally integrated in the Fall of 1972.
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Hate Crimes: Any of various crimes (such as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation).
Example: A black family has a cross burned on their lawn when they move into an all white neighborhood.
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Human Rights: The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.
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Melting Pot: A term often used to describe the United States as a place where immigrants of different cultures or races form an integrated society.
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Racial Discrimination: Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
Example: An American Indian male and a White male are interviewing for a position. The American Indian has slightly more experience, is well-groomed and qualified for the position. The White male is hired. The sole reason for his hire is because he is White.
Racial Profiling: The use of race as a consideration in suspect profiling or other law enforcement practices.
Example: A young Hispanic father is pulled over in his automobile by a law enforcement officer for interrogation for no other reason than that he is of Hispanic heritage.
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Reverse Discrimination: Discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, especially when resulting from policies established to correct discrimination against members of a minority or disadvantaged group.
Example: An American Indian male and a White male are interviewing for a position. The White male has slightly more experience, is well-groomed and qualified for the position. The American Indian is hired. The reasons for his hire is because he is an American Indian and the company has few or no American Indian employees.
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Segregation: Separation based upon race. De jure segregation results from state action, and de facto segregation results from private choices. Since only de jure segregation involves intentional state action to segregate, only de jure segregation is constitutionally actionable.
Example: Florida law mandated the schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately.
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Voting Rights Act: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed requiring would-be voters to take literacy tests and provided for federal registration of African American voters in areas that had less than 50% of eligible voters registered. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. The Act has been renewed many times and remains in force as of 2004: its most used (and most controversial) provision requires that the United States Department of Justice "preclear" any change in a state's voting laws that may have a negative impact on the voting rights of minorities. This in effect gives the executive branch of the federal government a kind of veto power over state legislatures' periodic re-apportionment of legislative districts.
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