The Civil Rights movement began on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to cooperate with a segregation law. As she boarded a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, she took a seat in the designated "black" rows in the back. A white man wanted to take her seat.
This event sparked what would become a national movement of resistance to racial segregation (separation of black people from white people) and discrimination. Local black leaders organized around Parks with Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. as their leader. They decided to start a citywide boycott of the Montgomery bus system on December 5, 1955. The boycott lasted 382 days and ended only when the case had reached the Supreme Court.
Affirmative Action is as necessary as it was back in December 1955 and on March 1961, six years after the historical event, when Executive Order 10925 was issued by President John F. Kennedy.
Originally, the order required government contractors to take "affirmative action" to ensure equal treatment of applicants and employees "without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin."
Decades later in the 21st century we are still hearing of racial intolerances and injustices. It has spilled over into more than just black and white. It is all minorities and women suffering today.
As much as we would like to "sweep it (it being racism) under the rug," it is a necessity to regulate our laws fairly. The term affirmative action describes policies aimed at minority men or women of all races intended to promote access to education or employment.
The motivation for affirmative action was due to the effects of past and current discrimination that is regarded as unfair[1] and to encourage public institutions such as universities, hospitals and police forces to be more representative of the population.
If it hadn't been for past racist behavior the backlash of creating a fair opportunity would not have been needed.
Here are two examples of racism- one during the Civil Rights Movement and the other is a current date injustice to a minority group:
College students participate in a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter reserved for white customers, Greensboro, North Carolina, February 2, 1960.
James Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing established by his family after he was dragged behind a truck June 7, 1998
According to the online statistics at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/hcrvp.pdf 62% of hate crimes were committed by white citizens.
Since September 11, 2001, hate crimes against Arab-Americans has risen 1600% according to the FBI site www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_02/html/web/offreported/02-nhat ecrime12.html.
There is still a race problem in America! More recent example of this Jena Six.
