Publisher's Synopsis
This book is an examination of the development of civil rights and racial equality in the United States from 1787 to 2008, considering why today many still believe there is racial inequality in the United States, notwithstanding the complete eradication of Jim Crow laws in 1964 and 1965, and the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 for two terms. The United States Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, and President John F. Kennedy's address to the nation on civil rights are reproduced in full, in an easy to read pocket guide, with a focus on civil rights issues presented. There remains a perception by many in the United States that racial discrimination still exists. Exploring possible reasons for that perception is the focus of this book. Two monumentally significant civil rights speeches in American history are cited in full: The Emancipation Proclamation, by President Abraham Lincoln, and an address to the nation made by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, that became the catalyst for The Civil Rights Act Of 1964. Additionally, Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech is cited regarding major tenets related to "goals" to be achieved from racial equality. Dr. King's speech has an active copyright in place through 2038, otherwise that speech would also have been reproduced in full. It appears that the stated goals to be achieved from civil rights legislation, as a basis to foster racial equality, stated by President Kennedy and Dr. King in 1963, verses the perceived goals to be achieved from civil rights legislation fostering racial equality today, have changed greatly; creating an overall perception by many that there is still racial inequality in the United States. The very meaning of the word "equality" seems to have changed between 1963 and 2019 fostering a perception continuing alleged inequality, but based upon new concepts that continually emerge, such as the concept of "privilege", which somehow become a negative attribute in America. The utter diminution of moral disciplines and values in the United States is certainly not helping the cause for racial equality in the United States, but rather working against it, as racial equality founded upon civil rights was originally based upon cohesive morals and values practiced by all members of a self governing Judeo-Chrisitian society. It may very well be that one cannot exist without the other.The Author recites in full, an address given in October 11, 2019 by Attorney General William P. Barr to the graduating law school class of Notre Dame College. The Author considers AG Barr's address to be one of the most powerful constitutional speeches ever made concerning the present Constitutional crisis in America, and some of the pressing causes for that crisis. Although AG Barr's address centers around current attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs and practices in the United States, the address is also keenly material and relevant to examining why there is an evisceration of morals and values in the United States, upon which the entire United States Constitution, the civil rights laws, and the civil rights historical movements, pre 1965, were based. It appears there is a current Constitutional crisis in America. Although many differ as to the root causes of that crisis, all seem to agree that one exists. The Constitutional crisis is examined from a civil rights, equal rights, and equal opportunity perspective in this book, through examination of core historical documents reproduced in full.
