Certain Issues Addressed in the Minority Rights Revolution by John D. Skrentny

Minority Rights Revolution

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s brought about several concordant social changes in the United States. What began as primarily an attempt to liberate African-Americans from continued systematic oppression in the form of school segregation Jim Crow laws turned out to be as much of a boon to American women and minority groups other than blacks, especially Latinos. Among the issues shared in common by all oppressed groups include voting rights, equal access to education, and equal employment opportunities. Creating social programs and institutions to provide especially for the needs of all minority groups was a logical extension of the Civil Rights movement, which appealed to women and Latinos as well as to African-Americans. The design of blanket-institutions and legislation was definitely a step in the right direction, as oppressed groups do suffer from similar forms and consequences of discrimination. However as John D. Skrentny points out in his book Minority Rights Revolution, the needs and experiences of women and Latinos differed in some significant ways from the needs and experiences of African-Americans. As the author states in the book's introduction, "Being analogous to blacks served as an initial classification, but groups retained distinctiveness. Equal opportunity meant different things depending on the group in question," (Skrentny13). Moreover, not all minorities are visible minorities; in most cases it is be easy to distinguish a woman from a man, or a black person from a white person, but especially within the Latino community, skin color is not necessarily a feature of the minority group. Also, Latinos in particular have had to deal with different types of discrimination based on language, while women have contended with deeply-rooted social prejudices and stereotypes against their entire gender, prejudices that transcend race or ethnicity. Therefore, the creation and evolution of social programs and legislation that protects women and non-black minorities both draws and diverges from similar initiatives for African-Americans.

Skrentny addresses linguistic discrimination and bilingualism in depth in Chapter Seven "Learn, Amigo, Learn!' Bilingual Education and Language Rights in the Schools." The author begins the chapter by noting, "Since the mid-1970s, bilingual education has been at the center of a storm over what it means to be an American, the proper role of government, and the nature of American culture," (179). Bilingualism remains at the heart of the minority rights debate and the current quandary over immigration laws. Although many African-Americans are bilingual, bilingualism and linguistic discrimination remain outside of the experiences of the majority of African-Americans. Therefore, programs and initiatives related to bilingualism had to evolve separately from those that pertained to blanket civil rights issues. In some cases, civil rights policies for blacks "also had legacies that were crucial in providing opportunity for advocates of bilingual education, (Skrentny 181). Among the direct contributions of the African-American civil rights movement on bilingualism include clarifying the role of the government and the place of public policy. Like blacks, Latinos could be easily classified as a minority group and could therefore be treated by the government similar to African-Americans in terms of the creation of policy initiatives. Second, Skrentny notes that the "black civil rights movement left a legacy for education policy for the disadvantaged," especially after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision (181). Not only did Brown v. Board of Education set the legal precedent for the elimination of overt discrimination in public schools, but the decision also helped change social norms and general American views of minority rights. Finally, the author states that the "most important" impact of the African-American Civil Rights movement on Latino bilingual rights was Title VI of the Civil Rights Act itself (Skrentny 181). Thus, the push for equal education for African-Americans in many ways mirrored the push for equal education for Latino-Americans.

Once Latinos were defined as official minorities as blacks were, Latinos became eligible for the same treatment in matters of educational public policies. Of special interest to the pro-bilingual Latino community was the inclusion of Spanish-language materials in schools. Although not included in the original Brown v. Board of Education decision and not a major part of the African-American civil rights campaigns, bilingualism became a significant minority rights issue that had similar goals of equal access public education. Similar to African-Americans, Latinos demonstrated lower scores on standardized tests in schools. Therefore, bilingualism became one way for Latinos to have equal access to the educational opportunities that their white counterparts enjoyed. Just as schools could no longer segregate between black and white classrooms, so too could schools no longer neglect to teach students for whom English was not a first language.

Along with the public policies that pertained to African-Americans and Latinos, policy initiatives that pertained to females were also a part of the overall Civil Rights movement. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 was drafted "to grant equality to women in education," (Skrentny 230). The author describes the pre-civil rights situation in American institutes of higher education: "Many universities had openly discriminatory policies toward women in key areas," (230). In some ways, the gains that African-Americans and Latinos would make in the early years of the civil rights movement would be enjoyed only by males. Women of all colors and ethnic backgrounds had to fight their own battles for obtaining equality. In terms of education, equality for women demanded a revamping of admissions policies as well as the mandatory inclusion of women in athletic activities. Skrentny points out that the African-American struggle for equal rights set the stage for, and was a necessary precursor of, equal rights for women in education. Women might not be a numerical minority in the American census as blacks were, but women were like blacks in terms of their social status, access to education, access to jobs, and access to equal pay as men. It took a long time for public policy to reflect the equation of women with minority groups, even though feminism and civil rights went hand-in-hand.