Cross-posted from the American Constitution Society Blog.
As Americans reflect on events a half century in the past, I hope they will consider how it might guide our actions now. In particular, I hope people will think about what Americans still owe the African American community.
On August 28, 1963, the date of the March on Washington, the United States was pervasively discriminatory to a degree not fully appreciated today. African Americans bore a significant burden; in many or most parts of the country, they could not vote, attend public schools with whites, patronize the public accommodations or live in the housing that they wished, or hope to be hired for a broad range of public and private employment.
But African Americans were hardly the only oppressed group. Rape within marriage was no crime, and, although the Equal Pay Act was on the books and would take effect in 1964, employers could get around it simply by not hiring women for good jobs. The idea that gay men and lesbians might legally marry someone of the same sex was absurd; instead, investigation, prosecution, and imprisonment for sodomy were an important part of the business of law enforcement. Un-American immigrants (Africans, Jews and Catholics) were discouraged from immigrating through gerrymandered quotas; Asians were excluded by race. The list of those whose marginalization was justified and defended as obviously correct was long, and included people with mental or physical disabilities, Indians, religious minorities including Jews and Muslims, children born out of wedlock, and single mothers.
America was remade thanks to the bodies and blood of African Americans -- whites and others also participated in the civil rights movement, of course, but, primarily, it was African Americans. The civil rights struggle, exemplified by the March on Washington, had revolutionary consequences. Part of its effect was near-term changes like passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the unsung but perhaps most effective anti-racist legislation of the period, the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965, which, by allowing for immigration on a non-racial basis, put America on the path to being a majority-minority nation.
But more fundamentally, the movement established a principle of equal dignity and treatment that is still bearing fruit, not just for African Americans but for all people. Perhaps its major legacy is that a working majority of Americans are skeptical of any claim that a group should be excluded or disadvantaged; discrimination must justify itself, and, usually, it cannot.
The bitter irony is that African Americans have not enjoyed a full share of the social changes which they unleashed. Women as students, workers and political leaders have made great strides in just a few decades. Asian and Latino immigration has exploded; Latinos are now the country’s largest minority group. Homophobia as a legal policy is rapidly collapsing. But, because of current discrimination and the present effects of past discrimination, African Americans remain residentially and educationally segregated, over-incarcerated and under-employed. They are poorer, less healthy and otherwise disadvantaged not only in comparison to whites, but also in some respects compared to recent immigrant groups.
The truth is that it is not obvious that naked self-interest compels women, Asians, gays and Latinos to be concerned about the African American community. If the food stamp program is cut or affirmative action for African Americans is eliminated, for example, that likely will not reduce female participation in higher education or undermine support for gay marriage. And all of those groups suffered in their own ways and can take credit for fighting their own battles to win a place at the table. Nevertheless, African Americans do not enjoy basic equality in the sense of a full and fair shot to make it in this country. For all Americans concerned about justice, particularly those who would not be where they are, or here at all, but for the African American contribution to the principle of equality, this anniversary should be a reminder that there is important unfinished business.
