At some points in history, the civil rights of American citizens were under pressure created or endorsed by the federal government. While some groups of people did not face any problems with their freedoms during major conflicts, others were exposed to injustices and restrictions. The following paper looks at two examples of the federal government either enforcing or failing to stop the discrimination of people and their civil liberties.
First, the establishment of the Law of Segregation and a widespread of racist and discriminatory politics in the Southern states during the 1890s will be examined. Second, the essay will look at the internment of Japanese-American citizens and guests that happened during World War II. These two instances present situations based on different reasons and events. However, their apparent connection to racial prejudices and xenophobia reveals the similarity of the fear guiding governmental restrictions.
The history of racial discrimination in America has had a number of significant events where the society and the government have taken multiple steps backward after establishing improved and less restricting laws (Eyes on the Prize). When the movement to end slavery succeeded in its efforts and Black people were given the ability to integrate into society and become American citizens, the tensions between those who supported and opposed equal rights became more significant.
The unsettled relations between Black Americans and white Americans grew into conflicts and often led to violence. As Foner states, “the 1890s saw the widespread imposition of segregation,” which indicates that the previously established Civil Rights Act did not end the conflict that had been taking place for many years (525). Racial tensions continued after the abolition of slavery, and although Black people were considered equal citizens of the state on paper, their actual position in the country heavily relied on the surrounding people.
Thus, Southern states encountered a problem of racism that was becoming a countrywide issue again. The courts approved federal-level laws that enforced segregation of races and established that equality does not have to mean full integration (Foner 525). The elimination of Black voting further induced the severity of the problem and limited Black people’s rights in many spheres of daily life. The Law of Segregation became an official limitation of Black Americans’ freedoms.
While theoretically, it was not bringing back slavery or eliminating these people’s ability to remain the citizens of the country, this law divided two groups of people according to their ethnicity and elevated one above the other. For example, as Black people were forced to stay inside their separate communities and were not allowed to have access to some services, buildings, or products, their civil liberties were limited by the government. This problem was not particular to some separate towns or even a single state. The spread of segregation in the country turned into a federal issue, and the government responded with restrictions.
The fact that this law led to the creation of rather aggressive protest movements means that the issue was serious enough to interfere with people’s lives. Segregation became a tool of discrimination against Black people, which rendered their status of free citizens virtually nonexistent. The freedoms that were granted to people with the creation of the Civil Rights Act were taken away from them with violence and political oppression. Moreover, this separation was allowed legally to some extent. While violence was not documented to be legal, the enforcement of segregation allowed white Americans to exercise their higher position of power to abuse Black people and violate their civil right to safety and freedom.
The history of political unrest in America, however, was not limited to Black people. Immigrants and workers from various countries faced discrimination during different periods of time. People who entered the country believing that its growing economy would allow them to have a better income encountered aggression and violence. However, the federal level of restricting someone’s freedoms reached devastating levels during World War II, when Japanese Americans were met with levels of discrimination that affected their population significantly.
The fear of the “Japanese invasion of the West” guided white citizens to believe that they had a right to take Japanese Americans away from their homes and separate families to keep them under government observation (Foner 698). Japanese-American citizens were forced to live in conditions unfit for a comfortable existence. Moreover, their desire to work and become part of the developing economy of the country that was once supported by the government was ignored and all opportunities granted to them after immigration were revoked.
Here, the conflict was a combination of racial tension, xenophobia, and the outcomes of the war. The fear of invasion was most likely guided by racism as much as political beliefs. However, while simple xenophobic notions could lead to conflicts between separate citizens, they did not come into comparison with the scope of internment and its effect on the Japanese-American population. As Foner pinpoints, “Japanese-American internment revealed how easily war could undermine basic freedoms” (699). Indeed, people were met with the level of discrimination that was not only not persecuted by the government but encouraged by it.
The failure of courts to intervene left people powerless to such aggression against them as they could not stop the problem from becoming more damaging to the population. The influence of war also created different experiences for Japanese Americans as some agreed to participate in the war, swearing their allegiance to the nation. However, their decision to enter this agreement did not imply an ability to refuse it (Foner 670).
Japanese people who did not want to pledge allegiance and be drafted to war could face jail and deportation. On the other hand, newly recruited soldiers, while being a part of the national army, could still have problems integrating into society. The cruelty of internment camps was only exacerbated by these decisions of the government to recruit soldiers while enforcing rules on innocent women and children. In the end, the apologies of the Congress did not change the way the country allowed xenophobic beliefs to guide it and make some devastating decisions.
These different examples present the ways the government can enforce ideas that lead to the segregation and discrimination of whole groups of people based on factors that they are unable to control or change. In both situations, people’s ethnicity was used against them, establishing stereotypes or standards that were untrue and unfair to those without structural power. Moreover, both examples reveal the level to which white Americans could abuse their positions to instill fear and enforce restrictions that took away people’s basic freedoms. The Segregation Law and internment both affected populations and generations of people and created tensions that led to the establishment of institutional oppression.
Works Cited
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement, vol. 5, “Missisipi: Is This America?” Directed by Henry Hampton, PBC, 1987.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History: Brief Edition. Vol. 2, 5th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.