Chapter 21 Notes

4/1/14
Heterogenous: different people, cultures, etc.
Immigrants: legal aliens that move to another country
Reservation: public land given to the Indians from the government.
Refugee: move for protection purposes.
Assimilation: adapting to another culture.

4/2/14
Population of the US is mostly white.
Immigrants have arrived in near record numbers every since the 1960s.
Populations that have grown: African American, Hispanic American, Asian American.
Minority populations exceed white populations in: California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas.
There are more females than males in the US
African Americans:

• They have been the victims of consistent and deliberate unjust treatment for a longer time.
• They are 14% of all American population
• Most of the gains in discriminations have been made by African Americans

Native Americans:

• When American settlers arrived in the mid 1600s and nearly a million of then were Native Americans.
• American Settlers brought diseases that the Indian Population was not used too.
• Poverty, Joblessness, and alcoholism still plague Indian tribes.
• Passed The Indian Education Act of 1972, which still isn't working to their benefit.
• Higher infant mortality rate.

Hispanic Americans:

• Spanish speaking background.
• Largest minority group today 50 million in the US
• Four subgroups: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Central and South Americans.

Asian Americans:

• Came for employment
• Chinese laborers were the first Asians to come to America in large numbers in the 1850 & 1086s.
• WWII all Japanese were evacuated to the Pacific Coast, even native born.
• Congress eventually admitted this was wrong and unjust
• Women were treated unfairly; education, property rights, and employment opportunities.
• It is illegal to pay women less than men

4/7/14
Those who oppose Civil Rights often believe you cant change mortality by passing a law.
1870s-1950s: no meaningful legislation passed in regards to civil rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964: passed after the longest debate in Senate history (83 days) Made changes in:

• Voting provisions
• Public Services
• Federal Funding Programs
• Employers and labor union

Civil Rights Act of 1968: aka "Open Housing Act" - cannot refuse selling/rent living space to a person due to race, religion, national origin, physical disability, etc.
Title IX: forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in any educational program or programming regarding financial assistance.

Affirmative Action:

• Requires employers take positive steps to fix the affects of past discrimination
• Employers must meet quotas for minority groups/genders
• Many argue this results un reverse discrimination: discrimination against the majority group.
• "Color blind"
• California, Washington, Michigan, and Nebraska voters passed measures to eliminate all affirmative action plans

Bakke Case:
*Allan Bakke sued the University of California because he was denied access to their medical school due to Affirmative Action (16/100 seats were reserved for minority students)
* He won the case

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor predicts in 25 years, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary.

4/8/14
An American citizen is a person that swears allegiance to the U.S. and is entitled to its protection and privileges of its laws.
The 14th amend. was the first constitutional definition: "All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and of the State wherein they reside."
The constitution declares becoming a American citizen by birth or naturalization.
Naturalization: legal process by which a person can become a citizen of another country some time after birth. Congress has exclusive power to provide for naturalization. (normally done individually)
Collective Naturalization: entire group can be granted citizenship through en masse. This normally happens when the U.S gains a territory. They are naturalized by an act or treaty.

Loss of Citizenship:

• You have the right to abandon your citizenship through Expatriation.
• It is illegal for Congress to take away citizenship.
• Naturalized can lose their citizenship through denaturalization- only occurs by a court after proof of foraged papers/cheating on test.
• Marriage does not make a person a citizen: only shortens the process of naturalization.

Immigration:

•  Congress has power to regulate with inward & outward immigrants
• Quotas for immigration
• Immigration act of 1965- did away with the quota system. immigrants are allowed in the US each year.
• Immigration act of 1990: governs the admission of aliens in the US
• Some are denied: criminals, mentally ill who might harm, etc.
• Deportation- legal process in which aliens must leave the country