50 Years After the March on Washington D.C. We Assess MLK’ Dream The USA has made definite progress in the fight for true freedom and equality by eliminating blatantly racist and discriminatory laws. The enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in 1965 provided much needed legal protections for the basis rights of all U.S. citizens, which had been denied to them for a century. The 1996 unanimous re-enactment of the Voting Rights Act by Congress and the 2008 and 2012 election of Barak Obama as president of the U.S. A. are watershed events in the progress of the evolution of Human Rights for all citizens of this country. At the same time, the fact that the USA has become the nation with the largest percentage of it’s population behind bars in the world by a Prison Industrial Complex, is a national disgrace. A disproportionate number of those incarcerated are people of color, who also lose their rights to vote permanently. A disenfranchisement made easier by the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down pre-emptive protections for voting rights in the Voting Rights Act. New York City is appealing a judge’s ruling that it’s “Stop and Frisk Law’ racially profiled men of color blatantly violating the Fourth and Fourteen Amendment, rather than willingly ending the obviously unconstitutional practice. George Zimmerman’ acquittal after stalking and gunning down unarmed Trayvon Martin an unarmed black teenager, simply for wearing a hood in the rain is seen by many as a perpetuation of Klan style criminally racist discriminatory murder. Hawaii to it’s credit made Martin Luther King’ birthday a state holiday 25 years ago. Unfortunately Honolulu’s only African-American judge was removed from office after only one term, during a Republican regime, which claimed disingenuously that she was too lenient. However, until Hawaii can accept a fair minded black judge on the bench, Hawaii still has some work to do on living up to the ideals of MLK’ dream. Atty. Andre’ Wooten
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 19:41:23 +0000
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