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Domestic Issues Essay

Throughout the history of the United States the administrative offices made decisions on issues that affected a wide range of domestic affairs. These issues relate to activity in the borders of our nation. Domestic policy covers areas such as education, environment, health care, taxes, social security, and many other life and political affairs. Some people contend that the federal government should hold a strong role in these domestic issues. Others point to the rights of the states or private sectors to handle the various issues.

Racial discrimination, living onditions of the poor, and stricter laws for immigration constitute three areas of political issues dealt with in various levels in the government system throughout the history of our nation. Facet 1: Explain First, in America racial discrimination has had a long history. Racial discrimination began in the colonial and slave period with the idea that one group of people holds a superior rank to other groups of people. Privileges and rights both legally and socially were granted to the white Americans, however the Native Americans, African Americans, other ethnic groups were not included.

These privileges included areas of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, ownership procedures for land, and criminal procedures. Throughout history racial discrimination has become a part of every aspect of society in our nation. Even Thomas Jefferson who helped to establish the Declaration of Independence and who was one of our nation’s presidents was convinced that whites were superior. He wrote in Notes in the State of Virginia, “black, whether originally a distant race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to whites in the endowments of both body and mind.

With this type of reasoning it allowed certain groups who were considered superior to others the opportunity to gain power economically and maintain social dominance over other groups. There have been many government attempts in the history of our nation to combat the injustice of racial discrimination. Our ideas of race began in America through the influences of science, culture and government. The federal, state, city, and personal government dealt with racial discrimination in a variety of ways.

One historical example is Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 where the U. S. Supreme Court supported the idea of “separate but equal” for segregation. Homer Plessy didn’t sit in a car that was designated for blacks under the Jim Crow law. When he made this decision it broke the state law in Louisiana. The Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law didn’t impose on the 13th and 14th Amendments. The states fought to keep the rights from blacks and sought to keep the African-Americans from being treated equally, the restrictive legislation centered on race continued until the famous case of Brown v. the Board of Topeka in 1954. government’s role in stricter laws in immigration.

Our nation began with people coming from various locations throughout the world to find a better place to live. It may have been to escape religious prosecutions, overcrowded cities or they were brought here without their consent, such as the slaves. The United States encouraged immigrants to come and settle the open lands. As our nation grew and prospered it attracted more and more diverse peoples. There was an open policy for immigrants to enter the nation. However, with this growth there develop problems and a need to control the incoming population so the immigrants would be benefitting our society.

The need for laws to enforce the people coming to our nation became important. Primarily throughout the history of our nation the states have played the major part in enforcing the immigrants. Most of the cases of immigration had to do with the violation of the law. However, after the Civil War, the Another area of domestic affairs is the Supreme Court took on the responsibility of of regulating immigration in the nation. Between 1900 to 1920 there were almost 24 million immigrants that came to the United States. This great spurt of immigration was called the ,”Great Wave. Congress decided it needed to have a new policy for immigration.

In order to be fair with each nation of people entering the United States, Congress decided to have a national-origins quota system. This system was passed in 1921. Immigration was controlled by putting a quota on each nat Patrol that was within the Immigration Service. lity. It was furthered enforced by US Border Facet 2: Interpretation Compare historical event to another historical event Another historical case of racial discrimination was Brown v. Board of Topeka. In the Plessy v. Ferguson case the U. S. ourt avoided the issue of the protection that citizens were guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.

Instead, they just stepped around the issue by saying that it was reasonable for the states to have such laws. Plessy Ferguson case ruled that facilities that were separate and equal were not unconstitutional, but equal. However, the Plessy v. Ferguson case helped African Americans to step in the right direction. At the time of the Plessy Ferguson case the rights of African Americans were being eliminated by laws such as Jim Crow Laws of the the South. In Brown v. Board the U. S. Supreme court ruled that public schools could not have racial segregation. It was deemed unconstitutional.

However, the time period of Brown v. Board also took place in 1954 compared to the 1800’s for Plessy v. Ferguson case. In the 1950’s and beyond the rights of the African Americans were increasing. Brown v. Board was a decision that allowed for the African American children to now be admitted to better quality schools giving them an opportunity to excel in academic areas that would allow them to continue to pursue higher education goals. In addition, Brown v. Board set the motion forward for the civil rights movement and gave the African American people hope for other areas to also be changed.

It opened the doors to the possibility that they may live in a blended society and fully equal to everyone. Thus, Plessy v. Ferguson led to the landmark case of Brown v. Board which made it possible for people of all color to have an equal opportunity to a free and public education wherever they may be located. Facet 3: Application – apply info in Facet 1 and 2 to an event today and give your opinion A racial discrimination event that took place on August 9, 014 involved an unarmed African American teenager and a white police officer.

Michael Brown was the teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. This incident took place in Ferguson, Mo. The shooting sparked conflict and led to protests just as the cases of racial discrimination in the past. There were people who felt it was unjust for the police officer to shoot a teenager when he was not armed. Some people felt the officer shot him because the boy was black. Subsequently, the case went to court in St. Louis and the grand jury did not indict Darren Wilson. Subsequently, the Plessy v.

Ferguson, Brown v. Board and the Ferguson Mo. case all involve racial discrimination. The recent case of Michael Brown and Darren Wilson was contended by many whether there was probable cause that Officer Wilson shot and killed Brown because of his race. However, I feel the case was handled well as it went to the grand jury. In this situation an indictment would require nine of the twelve jurors to agree. The situation was tense but the best evidence coincided with the police officer that an attempt was made by Brown to threaten the officer’s safety.

There was also a tape that was released that showed Brown robbing a store prior to the incident and threatening the clerk. A witness saw Brown attempt to get Wilson’s gun and that is when Wilson went for his gun and shot. When a police officer is threatened and feels his life was threatened he must take action. Unfortunately, Brown was killed but I think he would have done the same if he was able to get the gun from Wilson. I do not believe in brutality but we must protect our police officers and hopefully they always make the right decisions when a situation is life threatening.

There was sufficient evidence to not indict Wilson. It needed to go to a federal case because of the tension of the situation and the after effects if the case was not handled fairly and appropriately. Therefore, I feel it was a fair verdict. Facet 4: Perspective who should improve the issue There was much opposition to the ruling of the Ferguson case. After the shooting the Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, contended that Brown was a victim. Nixon did not agree with the police officer’s release of a tape that showed Brown robbing a store prior to the incident.

Citizens of Ferguson believed that the police chief was racist. There were too many conflicting stories. Two thirds of Ferguson is black and this also makes the situation tense. The view was the state of Missouri needs to improve its law enforcement. There have been too many incidents of brutality to blacks by white policemen. The state needs to have in place stricter laws on the appropriate measures that police officers can take in these situations. The tactics that the police man used was unprofessional and the credibility of the law enforcement is questionable.

Therefore, the state should build trust with the black community by investigating the matter and making revisions within the police enforcement. Facet 5: Empathy how do they feel In order to understand racial discrimination cases it is also essential to look at how the people who were opposed to the verdict feel about the situation. First the citizens who opposed the government’s ruling feel that the situation begins with the Ferguson police department and their lack of knowledge of the black community’s race relations from the past. Nearly thirty years ago, the community consisted mostly of white people.

Today, the situation is about 2/3 of the community is black. However, with a majority of black population the community is still enforced mostly by white police officers. In fact, there are only three African Americans on the police force. The African Americans feel powerless since they have no political power. This causes them to feel overwhelmed and frustrated because they contend tend that they are harassed and this causes them to be angered by the injustice. When there are disturbances with blacks the police force comes out with tear gas and weapons.

If a black person causes any problems, there seems to be unprofessional treatment. The black community feels Brown was a victim of racial aggression toward their race. In order to resolve the problems in the community, it must start within the community by having a fair representation of law enforcement officers be African American. With that change it would give them a feeling of importance and fairness because they would represent their culture. Subsequently, the black community felt saddened that Brown was another victim of what they feel was racial violence.

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