Whites Contributions to the Rights of Minorities

Lately, I have been seeing many threads about how whites are racist and thought I would contribute something to the matter. It is not uncommon to hear minorities make comments about white racism or discrimination. Comments such as: I was fired because I was (insert race or ethnicity), they only hire white people, White people get all the best jobs, they are keeping me down, I was stopped because of my color and I am sure many of you can plug in similar comments. Although I can’t personally vouch whether every comment like these deserve merit, I do have to wonder whether some of these comments are just exaggerated to avoid self responsibility. After all, we aren’t living in the 1950’s anymore and Americans of all colors have more opportunities than ever before to be somebody in life.

Is the white man really the root of all cause or the boogey man some minorities paint them out to be?

My answer is simply NO.

Although I am 100% sure there are racist whites, I am also 100% sure there are racist people from every color. However, I do believe minorities should be thankful for the good deeds that whites have done to advance the rights of minorities. Sometimes, as humans, we tend to focus more on the bad things.

This thread will show some of the contributions that whites have made over the years toward equality for minorities. Although one could debate the many reasons behind why such legislation was passed or judicial decisions were made, the fact remains that white men chose to agree and pass the legislation or make decisions. It should also be noted that even though certain legislation passed or judicial decisions made to protect minorities, minorities still had to deal with mistreatment from whites who saw things differently. Minorities still faced beatings, poll taxes, lynching’s, discrimination, etc.

During the early 1860’s to 1880’s, the US Congress was overwhelmingly made up of white men. It was at this time that several pieces of legislation were passed pertaining to discrimination in an effort to protect the rights of minorities.

The 13th amendment on Janurary 31, 1865.

in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery, is ratified. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

www.history.com...

The Civil rights Act of 1866.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude."

President Andrew Johnson's veto of the bill was overturned by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, and the bill became law.

www.pbs.org...

The 14th Amendment on July 9, 1868.

On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War.

www.americaslibrary.gov...

The Fifteenth Amendment on February 3, 1870.

Following its ratification by the requisite three-fourths of the states, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment reads, "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." One day after it was adopted, Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.

www.history.com...

The Ku Klux Klan Act in April 20, 1871.

On April 20, 1871, at the urging of President Ulysses Grant, Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act. Also known as the third Enforcement Act, the bill was a controversial expansion of federal authority designed to give the federal government additional power to protect voters.

millercenter.org...

The last biracial U.S. Congress of the 19th century passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public accommodations and facilities such as restaurants, theaters, trains and other public transportation, and protected the right to serve on juries. However, it was not enforced, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1883.

www.pbs.org...

Kate Brown, an African American, filed a lawsuit against a railroad company under the civil rights act of 1875. She worked in the US Senate and supervised the ladies retiring room which required her to take care of the white women when they took breaks during visits. In 1868, she boarded a train to go home on an emergency. She got on the white ladies section of the train and was told to get off and go to the color section when an officer spotted her. She refused the order and the officer roughed her up pretty good. She won her case in a lower court and the decision was appealed by the railroad company. In 1873, the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts decision.

A Supreme Court that was all white.

In the Court Majority opinion, Justice Davis declared that the condition “no person shall be excluded from the cars on account of color” would be interpreted as all races must be able to use the same car at the same time

blog.oup.com...

In 1870, the Mississippi State Senate in a vote of 85-15 sent the first African American, Hiram Rhodes Revels, to the US Senate. At the same time, South Carolina elected the first African American, Joseph H. Rainey, to the US House of Representatives. Given the time period and the attitude toward blacks, these two minorities would not have had success without the help or tolerance of white men who were predominantly the voters. Both African Americans were Republicans.

The first African American elected to the U.S. Senate was Hiram Rhodes Revels, who in 1869 filled the seat vacated by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Also in 1869, fellow Republican Joseph H. Rainey became the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

www.cbn.com...

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How did white men help women attain their right to vote? Seems some men had no problem had all giving them that right. New England allowed a woman to vote in town meetings in 1756.

“Have women in the aggregate less native intelligence than men? Have they less desire for social and governmental righteousness? Are they less patriotic? Are they less interested in the common welfare? Have they less at stake? If not, wherein lies the superiority of the male portion of the population.”

www.scmlaw.com...

Lydia Chapin Taft was an early forerunner in Colonial America who was allowed to vote in three New England town meetings, beginning in 1756.

www.womenhistoryblog.com...

In 1869, the Wyoming Territorial legislature gave women the right to vote. In 1889, the Wyoming Constitution guaranteed the women the right to vote and became the first state to do so.

"That every woman of the age of twenty-one years, residing in this Territory, may at every election to be holden under the law thereof, cast her vote." William Bright, the bill's sponsor, had come to share his wife, Julia's, belief that suffrage was a basic right of American citizenship.

theautry.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> theautry.org...

In 1889, the Wyoming state convention approves a constitution that includes a provision granting women the right to vote. Formally admitted into the union the following year, Wyoming thus became the first state in the history of the nation to allow its female citizens to vote.

www.history.com...

The future state that had prided itself for being the first government to grant women equal political rights was to have a state constitution that was drafted, debated and passed entirely by men.

www.wyohistory.org...—-and-the

Montana suffragist Jeannette Rankin fought for women’s right to vote and won her battle in 1914. Nevada passed similar legislation in the same year followed by Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, and Ohio in 1917.

A few years later, Rankin went on to become the first female elected to the US Congress. Rankin gave a speech in 1911 to the state legislature stating:

Women were given equal suffrage in Wyoming in 1859. They were given the ballot in Colorado in 1893, 24 years later, after that state had been watching with interest its effect in Wyoming. Utah was next in line and from that state women's suffrage spread to Idaho, then Washington. Geographically, Montana is the next state to give suffrage to women, for it [is] more nearly surrounded with states in which women vote than any other in the union.

www.pbs.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.pbs.org...

in 1916, Montana suffragist Jeannette Rankin is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first woman in the history of the nation to win a seat in the federal Congress.

www.history.com...

In 1919, Congress would extend the right to vote to all American women by passing the 19th Amendment which was later ratified by the states in 1920. The decision to give women the right to vote by a primary white electorate provided further opportunities for women.

On June 4, 1919, Congress, by joint resolution, approved the woman's suffrage amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. The House of Representatives had voted 304-89 and the Senate 56-25 in favor of the amendment.

memory.loc.gov..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> memory.loc.gov...

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Would it surprise anyone to find out whites were cofounders of the NAACP? Mary White Ovington, journalist William English Walling and Henry Moskowitz among other white individuals were angry about the cruel treatment given to blacks and set out to something about it. They called for a meeting in New York and invited sixty people to the event, seven of whom were African Americans. The NAACP was born and history made. The NAACP had a white president until 1975.

NAACP History

White Ovington (April 11, 1865 in Brooklyn, New York - July 15, 1951) a suffragette, socialist, unitarian, journalist, and co-founder of the NAACP.

www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-Mary-White-Ovington

appalled at the violence that was committed against blacks, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard, both the descendants of abolitionists, William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln's birth.

www.naacp.org...

In 1954, the Supreme Court, all nine white members, ruled unanimously that separate but equal schools were unconstitutional in the famous decision of Brown vs Board of Education. Ironically, one of the Justices, Hugo Black, was a former member of Ku Klux Klan. It was a big victory for color people. However, similar to legislation and judicial efforts of the past aimed at protecting the rights of minorities, enforcement was severely lacking. Little Rock, Arkansas drags its feet on integrating students for three forcing President Eisenhower to nationalize the Arkansas national guards and send in the Army. On September 25, 1957, nine black students are escorted into Central High in Little Rock.

On May 17, 1954, the Court unanimously ruled that "separate but equal" public schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional.

www.civilrights.org...

The Hearst newspapers reported that Black had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Black gave a nationally broadcast radio address explaining his decision to join and then resign from the Klan. Protestors filed an unsuccessful petition urging the Court to deny Black his seat.

www.oyez.org...

www.centralhigh57.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Central High

“Speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson and of Wilson, my words better convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled today to take and the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course until the orders of the federal court at Little Rock can be executed without unlawful interference.” The next morning, nine African American students attended classes at Central High.

www.whitehousehistory.org...

Since the 1960’s, more laws have been passed by predominantly white legislators to further protect minorities from various forms of discrimination. Laws such as:

• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA)
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
• Americans with Disability Act

Laws Enforced by EEOC

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American on the US Supreme Court , and in 1968 Shirely Chisholm became the first African American Women in Congress.

Thurgood

Shirley Chisholm, an advocate for minority rights who became the first black woman elected to Congress and later the first black person to seek a major party's nomination for the U.S. presidency,

usatoday30.usatoday.com...

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Now, I would like to present some white individuals who sacrificed everything while fighting for the rights of minorities.

Viola Liuzzo

Viola Liuzzo (1925-1965) was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan on the last night of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March. She is the only white woman honored at the Montgomery Civil Rights Memorial.

encyclopediaofalabama.org...

James Reeb

James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister, became nationally known as a martyr to the civil rights cause when he died on 11 March 1965, in Selma, Alabama, after being attacked by a group of white supremacists. Reeb had traveled to Selma to answer Martin Luther King’s call for clergy to support the nonviolent protest movement for voting rights there. Delivering Reeb’s eulogy, King called him ‘‘a shining example of manhood at its best’’ (King, 15 March 1965).

mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu...

Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal Seminary student in Boston, had come to Alabama to help with black voter registration in Lowndes County. He was arrested at a demonstration, jailed in Hayneville and then suddenly released. Moments after his release, he was shot to death by a deputy sheriff.

Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, a wealthy businessman, offered to pay poll taxes for those who couldn’t afford the fee required to vote. The night after a radio station broadcasted Dahmer’s offer, his home was firebombed. Dahmer died later from severe burns.

www.splcenter.org...

William Lewis Moore

Moore wanted Barnett to fundamentally change Mississippi's racial hierarchy — something unthinkable for a Southern politician at the time.

In his letter, Moore warned the governor, "Do not go down in infamy as one who fought the democracy for all which you have not the power to prevent." It never reached its destination. Moore was shot on the roadside, a killer never charged.

www.npr.org...

John Brown

Brown denied that he had come to Virginia to commit violence. His only goal, he said, was to liberate the slaves. "If it is deemed necessary," he told the Virginia court, "that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle my blood with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done."

Brown's execution was set for December 2. Before he went to the gallows, Brown wrote one last message: "I ... am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."

www.class.uh.edu...

Finally, I give you the most recent deed whites have done for minorities. In 2008 and 2012, white voters helped to elect Barack Obama as President of the United States of America and the first African American President. President Obama would have never become President without 43% of white voters in 2008 and 39% of white voters in 2012.

Numbers

Life in America for minorities nowadays could have turned out a whole lot different if it hadn't been for the white people who stood along the minorities in their fight for equal rights.

Please don't turn this thread into an argument about racism. It is meant to highlight the good things white Americans have done for minorities or minorities who have benefited from their actions.

Interesting Reading

Negro League legacy

mlb.mlb.com...

John Rock

www.nwculaw.edu...

Thaddeus Stevens

www.neh.gov..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.neh.gov...

en.wikipedia.org...

Historians agree John Brown played a major role in the start of the Civil War. Historian David Potter has said the emotional effect of Brown's raid was greater than the philosophical effect of the Lincoln–Douglas debates, and that his raid revealed a deep division between North and South.[5] Some writers, such as Bruce Olds, describe him as a monomaniacal zealot; others, such as Stephen B. Oates, regard him as "one of the most perceptive human beings of his generation." David S. Reynolds hails the man who "killed slavery, sparked the civil war, and seeded civil rights" and Richard Owen Boyer emphasizes that Brown was "an American who gave his life that millions of other Americans might be free."[6] The song "John Brown's Body" made him a heroic martyr and was a popular Union marching song during the Civil War.

One of the greatest fighters against slavery was my favorite historical American who died to free slaves, that is the great John Brown, a white man who was martyred to free the black slaves.

There is no greater deed than to sacrifice for another as he did. He a white man went to the gallows kissing a black baby.

A true American and one who truly practiced and believed in his Christian faith that
ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS!

A great man

Oh come on now, there are also lots of majority black countries in which they've put in constitutional protection for the white minority groups.

Here's a list:

reply to post by jam321


"Lately, I have been seeing many threads about how whites are racist"


Please point me to those threads. Ive seen more "whites are victims" threads and posts here recently that seriously is quite disheartening. This is just another star and flag the other white guy, that is against white guilt.

I want to help your cause...

Any other white person that has not committed a crime towards an ethnic person.. POOF! Your cleared.

If your white and you never used the "N" word... POOF your clear.

If you have donated the price of a cup of coffee to an African country.... POOF! your clear.

If at least one of your "very" good friends is another race other than white... POOF! your clear.

Seriously if white people do not want to be associated with what others have done before they were born, then I think its fair to say that this should include everyone. Including all of the white heroes in this thread.

We get it.

Peace, NRE.

Originally posted by alfa1

Oh come on now, there are also lots of majority black countries in which they've put in constitutional protection for the white minority groups.

Here's a list:

It's just that, right then, you sounded really, really bent.

reply to post by Emeraldous


Bent, maybe. But it's a valid and relevant point, nonetheless.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver

This is just another star and flag the other white guy, that is against white guilt.

Nope. Care less about stars and flags. Just a thread from a minority Hispanic that is doing pretty good for himself thanks to the contributions of those who opened the doors to opportunity.



Peace

reply to post by alfa1


Not to ruin your fun but the reason your list is so short is because there was no reverse transatlantic slave trade.

Why not do a list of countries which are almost entirely made up of free choice immigrants who had more rights than forced immigrants for over 200 years.

Constitutional protection as you put it should in fact be simplified to equality.

Originally posted by Jukiodone
reply to post by alfa1

 

Not to ruin your fun but the reason your list is so short is because there was no reverse transatlantic slave trade.

Why not do a list of countries which are almost entirely made up of free choice immigrants who had more rights than forced immigrants for over 200 years.

Constitutional protection as you put it should in fact be simplified to equality.

How is the TransAtlantic slave trade even relevant?
What about before the TransAtlantic slave trade?
Don't bet butt-hurt, Alfa has a point. It's best to accept it.

Why did anyone have to put themselves in a position to take away or revoke the rights of any other human being to begin with? We wouldn't need all of these heros or kudos to anyone, It is somewhat difficult to hear the men of today speak of their good when in the same breath they dare not speak of the evils that somehow created these situations, I would much rather read about the men that lived during the day when human rights were forcibly revoked and replaced with rights only as property, such as found in some of the writings of Thomas Paine that help to paint a better understanding of why the ugliness of slavery in America ever had to happen.

There are many ugly things that have happened throughout history and there was never full agreement supporting the bad or supporting the good, I like anyone's contribution to restore anyone's rights that have had no real reason to have them revoked in the first place, and who gave them license to elevate themselves over any other human to begin with ?

I applaud those who contributed to the rights of people (not just minorities) no matter what nationality, they are human beings, in the human race who see everyone as being equal.

Why would the Native American have to have a civil rights act ? I am posing this question as why did their rights have to be revoked in the first place?
Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 on Wikipedia


I like to read this and wonder how things and opinions today are far from this more close truth to the plight of those who had those so called inalienable rights revoked by other human beings.

A very good read and a very good shunt to ground account that destroys a lot of the lies and misconceptions of how the slaves from Africa somehow made it to America and the real truth of the matter.
A lot of the problems of today began with this trade that seemed as though it would never end, free labor, free property, full profits and prosperity at the hands of those who never should have been taken for any reason, seemed there was not enough good people around to convince them of this horribly bad idea.

Thomas Pain: African Slavery in America

In the era of the 1850's to 1870's the Chinese Americans had to fight for their civil and human rights
Driven Out : The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans

A timeline of Hispanic Civil Rights
Latino Civil Rights Timeline 1903 to 2006


I am all for human rights and anyone that is interested in helping those who find themselves having been in the unfortunate position to have their rights revoked or that have no recognition as equals.

Imperialism is not a white ideology or construct. It's been going on for far longer than there have been white people.

It just so happens that the vast majority of the imperialism was conducted by people whose skin color was white.

Had Britain or Rome come out of Central, South or Eastern Africa as opposed to Europe, the same damn thing would have occurred, but in reverse.

To be honest the term White Contribution To Minority Rights is a bit sickening. IMO those who have been given equal rights because they didn't have them before, was only the result of either guilt, or public pressure to change archaic and no longer applicable mindsets through legislation.

We're all pink on the inside, the only way to stop racism, is to stop participating in it.

To stop participating in it, were all going to have to realize that race doesn't actually exist, or at least should not as a means to label ones self. Culture is important. Your skin color is not.

~Tenth

reply to post by kimish



How do you think most black people got to America?
If 600000 black people from Africa went to their travel agent I think you might have had a point but the fact that some immigrants ( slaves) had less rights than other immigrants (i.e the entire country) for 200 years + was the reason for equality legislation.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


OP said he created this thread because he has been seeing more and more threads saying whites are racist, I think that is a bad reason, honestly self love and downright being proud of yourself, your own family and culture could be considered being racist using some of the PC barometers out there nowadays? nothing wrong with that but hey if you do not love your self first you could never truly love anyone else no matter the color!

reply to post by phinubian


I don't think a lot of white people are racist. I think they are xenophobic on some level, but that's not their fault really.

The media have been perpetuating a quasi cultural race war for like...30 years. Effectively different 'races' exist in their own echo chambers, with specialized and targeted media that tells them what to be angry about.

And it's usually to be angry about another group of people, who conveniently have one obvious physical trait that's different.

~Tenth

Originally posted by jam321
reply to post by NoRegretsEver

 

This is just another star and flag the other white guy, that is against white guilt.

Nope. Care less about stars and flags. Just a thread from a minority Hispanic that is doing pretty good for himself thanks to the contributions of those who opened the doors to opportunity.

Peace

Sadly, liberals can't distinguish the difference between Equal Opportunity from Equal Results.

I much appreciate your post regarding whites contribution to minorities rights but i find that there is a paradox at play here; there wouldn't have had to be a constitution to return equal rights if they had not been taken away in the first place.

I dont believe that white people of today should have to feel guilty about the past. Amendments have been made, and people are free to pursue their happiness without their skin colour/race being a problem.

Those who think white people should feel guilty are in many respects not helping themselves or the future generation of minorities. If people raise their kids to believe that their skin colour will be a problem when trying to gain education or employment then there's a good chance it will become a problem because the slightest let down, such as a job rejection will instantly be put down to their race/colour and not their resume/performance.