Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act is a milestone element of American civil rights legislation that seeks to prohibit discrimination based on a number of aspects such as gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, and race.
Although the Civil Rights Act has undergone several amendments, the Civil Right Act amendment of 1964 was the main amendment that addressed the above types of discrimination (Lawson 22). Moreover, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 removed discrimination in learning institutions, at work and other facilities termed as “public accommodations.”
These institutions are entities, whether public or private, that are for public use in the US. President Kennedy proposed these changes in response to some experiences of racial based violence in the southern region (Bowron 20). According to the Act, all public accommodations must be accessible to every person regardless of his or her color, race, national origin or religion.
Improving on the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the 1964 amendment introduced clauses seeking to prohibit discrimination in all state facilities. It also gave the Attorney General the power to support court cases against state agents that support or perpetrate segregation in schools.
However, the proposal did not accommodate some provisions considered important by civil rights activists. For instance, it did not consider giving the department of Justice the authority to start court cases on job discrimination or desegregation, stopping discrimination in private sectors, and public protection against law enforcement cruelty.
The Civil Right Act of 1968 aimed at introducing housing rights as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act 1964. It discriminated any act that tends to discriminate individuals based on color, race, creed, ethnicity or origin when providing housing opportunities (Branch 73). The Act allowed the federal government to make it an offense to intimidate, injure, force, threaten using force, or restrict someone based on nationality, color, ethnicity, or race.
Moreover Civil Right Act of 1968 (Title VIII) is known the “Fair Housing Act” and was intended to enhance the Civil Right Act of 1866,which had banned different forms of discrimination in housing, federal crime was not included in the proposal. The Fair Housing Act banned any discrimination regarding finance, leasing, and sale of housing based on nationality, religious grounds, and race (Conroy 621).
Moreover, although it did not have much impact during its early years, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 had a significant influence on succeeding legislation processes. For example, it supported the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, which removed discrimination against people with disabilities. This issue had not been addressed in America before the enactment of the Civil Rights of 1964 (“Lyndon Johnson Signs Civil Rights Act of 1964”).
Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act of 1965 is an important element of federal legislation that banned any form of discrimination during voter registration and voting. President Johnson signed the Act into law in response to various civil right movements.
To improve voter protection, the Congress made five changes in the original proposal. In order to impose the voting rights assured by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had criminalized discrimination against racial minorities. This Act is one of the most valuable elements of civil rights legislations in the country (“African-Americans Vote in South Carolina”).
The Voting Rights Act allowed the federal government to oversee elections. Supporting the statement in the Fifteenth Amendment, the Voting Rights Act forbids all states or agents from enforcing any voting requirement, process, practice, or standards that may cause rejection or violation of voting rights based on minority status or race. Along with this general ban, the proposal explicitly bars literacy tests and other tools that were traditionally used to discriminate minorities during voting (Branch 91).
The Voting Rights Act is made up of two main provisions- special provisions and general provisions. While General provisions address national issues, the special provisions address particular local government or states. These two provisions are intended to provide protection of voting rights based on language and racial minorities. The special provisions support “persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage” (Conroy 664).
Section 5 of the Act addresses special provisions by prohibiting authorities from enforcing any law that may influence voting process without initially passing through the “preclearance” process. Preclearance process permits changes after confirmation from the judge panel or the Attorney General (Lawson 36). The changes in voting process are only allowed if they do not have any influence on race or language status.
The Congress has made some changes in 2006, 1992, 1982, 1975, and 1970 on the Voting Rights Act. In all these changes (except 1992), the Congress improved the preclearance standards. For instance, the coverage formula was improved in 1970 and 1975. In addition, section 2 was updated in 1982 and bans any discriminative voting law (Conroy 664).
These are laws that have a discriminatory effect or purpose, which was banned regardless of whether they were passed or sustained for a discriminatory purpose. Moreover, the latest amendment of 2006 has updated various protections that offered the Department of Justice the ability to approve any voting changes, monitoring during Election Day and allowing language assistance.
Noteworthy, the voting Rights Act has allowed a free and equal voting process. The voting rights have been protected because the Act provides the minority groups with various privileges to vote during all elections.
Works Cited
“African-Americans Vote in South Carolina.” Prime News., BBC, New York, 23 Mar. 1965. Television.
“Lyndon Johnson Signs Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Prime News., BBC., New York, 27 Mar. 1964. Television.
Bowron, Aaron. “Celebrating the Progress of Michigan’s Civil Rights Laws.” Michigan Bar Journal 2.3 (2012): 20-21. Print.
Branch, Taylor. Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963–65, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. Print.
Conroy, Terrye. “The Voting Rights Act of 1965: A Selected Annotated Bibliography.” Law Library Journal 98.4 (2006): 663-690. Print.
Lawson, Steven F. Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944–1969. New York: Columbis University Press, 2006. Print