Law, Justice and Society chapter 12

Since the United States has became a country it had a problem with treating minorities poorly. First it started with the Native Americans who lived in the lands that we call the United States way before the white man moved here. At first everything was fine and the Natives tough the white man how to survive of the land and survive the harsh winters of the land. After a while the white man had the confederation period in which the articles of confederation were created and there was a national verses state conflict between the Native American affairs. Then the removal period happened that was the removal of Native Americans from the East to the West. The reservation period happened next, during this period all of the Native Americans were put in reservations and each reservation had their own government. After putting all of the Native Americans in reservations the white man tried to take away their customs and traditions and make the Native Americans in to more like white man. After trying to do that the Indian Reorganization period happened in which the Native Americans started to adapt the constitution and the white man started to give pack some of the traditions. Then the Termination period began in which there was a separation between the Native American reservations and the federal government so the reservations just started to fall under the state rule. The last period is Self determination period in which the federal government helped with cleaning of the Native American lands and helping the Native Americans. During this period the Native Americans had a choice if they wanted to be under the federal rule or not. The affects that all of thees periods had on the Native Americans was that Native Americans went from free people, to moved people, to restricted people, to people with rights and then to restored people. During some of those periods the African Americans were introduced to the United States as slaves. That is another minority that has been discriminated against for many years. Blacks were used as slaves and they were property and as property they had to do whatever their owner tells them to do. After being freed from slavery the Jim crow laws began which allowed the segregation of whites and blacks but not equal segregation. The segregation had a value in favor of the white man. The blacks had some rights like Civil rights that allowed them to sue and own property but the blacks could not sue because of all the legal fees. They had political rights like the right to vote but the pole tax and literacy tests stopped them from voting and blacks had social rights like mingling with the white man, it was a right for blacks not a choice. Things got better for minorities different acts were passed that allowed them to vote without having to take tests and not having to pay tax that was the voting rights act of 1965. Today there is still discrimination against minorities. The discrimination has gone down but it is still here like if there is a black man and a white man in trial for the same crime the odds are that the black man will get a more harsh punishment then the white man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7VbzzfMAuc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3mSW8XUZI Discrimination has always been here and everyone needs to work a little harder to stop it.