Big Question Final Blog

Freedom-class has been a class structured like no other class that I have taken in college. I have learned about numerous events and court cases most of them in the Civil Rights Era that greatly impacted our generation in the years to come. Examples: Death of Emmett Till, March on Washington, and trial of Plessy v Ferguson to name a few. They all had a crucial impact on our history. For example, the Death of Emmett Till showed the brutality of how whites treated African Americans back in the 1950s. Just for simply flirting with a cashier at a convenience store Till was shot, beaten, eye gouged, stabbed, and thrown down a river. America saw the horridness of the murder when Till’s family had an open casket funeral. This brought light to the brutality of Jim Crow Segregation in the South and was an early momentum boost for the civil rights movement.

The Civil Rights Era revealed the First Amendment's central role in creating social and political change. The many harsh discriminatory events during the Civil Rights Era helped spawn a national crisis that forced intervention by the federal government to overturn segregation laws in southern states, restore voting rights for African Americans, and end legal discrimination (slaves), education, and employment.

Internet would have greatly affected the Civil Rights Era. The internet in general and blogging, in particular, would have had the potential to advance social movements and political mobilizations. It’s crazy how quickly we can get our news when something outrageous or impactful happens in America. Going back to the Emmett Till death, just imagine how quickly that would have been talked about all around America if we had the internet! I believe it would have greatly increased and sped up the Civil Rights Era due to the fact of more publicity of discriminatory events would have been seen around America.

I learned a great deal of what I love from freedom class. I noticed that I love writing about unknown events and other principles more so than listening to lectures and taking a quiz thereafter. I thought it was smart of Professor Smith to change up the flow of what a regular class would look like. He added certain things that I had never done before in a class like writing blog posts and mock trials which was difficult at first, but I got the hang of it after the first month of the semester. More discussion-based learning is what I prefer and Professor Smith’s class was very engaging to me. For myself, I didnt have much trouble keeping up on the blog post due to the fact that Professor Smith would give us a week to complete each one. What I recommend for future students is to have an open mind and not to stress out the first couple of weeks of class. Professor Smith’s class is different in structure than most classes. However, if you pay attention, ask questions when you are stuck, and stay on the task it will be an engaging class that I would recommend everyone to take.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/digital-news/

EOTO #4 Reflection

My fellow casements presented positive and negative events most of them during the 1950s and 1960s that affected our generations in the years to come. Most of the events that were brought forth by both sides I had never studied in history classes during middle school and high school. However one of them really stood out to me. The Masters, Segregated Country Clubs, and Agusta National Club by Alex were very intriguing to learn about. Until recently in many golf clubs, African Americans would be permitted to come under the guise that the club was “invitation only.” Those invitations were only sent out to the white Americans and never to African-Americans to other minorities. What comes as surprising is that the first two cases against golf courses segregation happened in northern states.

The PGA Championship has actually been held at a golf club that doesn't allow African-Americans to golf there which I thought was crazy. (Shoal Creek Club) Club Founder Hall Thompson prompted widespread outrage when he defiantly declared the club would not be pressured to accept African-American members. Thompson is quoted as saying, “we have the right to associate or not to associate with whomever we choose. The country club is our home and we pick and choose who we want. I also didnt know that one of the most famous golf clubs the Even Agusta National Golf Club permitted African Americans from golfing at their club not too long ago. How bizarre! It wasn't until 1975 that the club extended an invitation to its first black competitor Lee Elder. Even after that, it didn't extend an invitation to its first black member until 1990, and then it's finally offered membership to women in 2012. Of the estimated 300 members of Augusta National, there are only maybe eight black members today. One of the most interesting topics I learned about in this class this semester.

Board of Regents v. Bakke - Board of Regents Argument

In this case of  Board of Regents v. Bakke. Mr. Bakke applied in good faith to our universities medical school at Davis twice and without doubt had an acceptable GPA, MCAT, and was worthy of being considered for admission in our school, however, part of our overall mission is to help the unprivileged Americans get a great education. This is right in line with our federal government’s objective to create better opportunities and outcomes for minorities. Minority poverty is a huge problem in America. If we fix this we could fix so many other issues all the way from crime to racism. It is ok to discriminate because it’s the government’s interest. We believe this greater common good is more important than in the plate of one individual white man trying to get into our school.  

The equal protection clause of the Constitution states that the clause prohibits any state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Unless the government has a specific interest then it is ok to base something on race and clearly in this case we are serving the importance of our federal government by helping more minority students enter the medical profession. This means that more minorities can be successful and not be on federal assistance. This helps raise the standard of living which is clearly an objective of our federal government. Also, The Civil Rights Act prohibits all discrimination, but because the Equal Protection Clause is not violated here there is no discrimination from a legal standpoint. 

This is not a moral argument on right or wrong or being fair and honest. This is an issue of serving the objective of serving our federal government,  so is not violating the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment. This should make us all feel great that we’re helping the underprivileged.

More background, about what Allan Bakke believed and the eventual outcome. 

The case of Board of Regents, (University of California) v. Bakke was a Supreme Court case over the dispute of Allan Bakke believing that he was denied admission to the University of California due to the color of his skin. Bakke was a white man and had better testing scores and grades than some of the African American students that were admitted. 

Bakke sued the University of California in a state court, due to the medical school allegedly violating title VI of the civil rights act of 1964 which ended segregation in public places, and employment discrimination. Bakke views this that although he is white, he is more deserving of the spot in the medical program over the others. As well as the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause that had been violated Bakke argued that he legally should not be rejected due to his race, because he was more qualified than the others who had applied over him. In an age aspect, the board used the argument that he was too old to be entered into the program. But Bakke was serving time in the military so he could not apply to the program when he was in his 20’s. He also thought that having a military background would be beneficial to him, but clearly not. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision that a state may constitutionally consider race as a factor in its university admissions to promote educational diversity, but only if considered alongside other factors and on a case-by-case basis.

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811 

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_regents.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4b77yvDzlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL5xwX0N3Ow