Protecting The Rights Of African-American Majorities
posted by Dan Filler
Jack Chin offers up an interesting new take on Jim Crow, arguing that the 14th and 15th Amendments were adopted at a time of African-American majority rule. From the abstract:
When it mattered, when the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were enacted and for decades after, African Americans were a majority or controlling plurality in the states where most lived. African American-backed majoritarian governments controlled the South after the Civil War; while in power, they enacted strong civil rights laws and created a public education system. These policies were reversed, and segregation imposed, not because African Americans were a minority, destined to lose in the majoritarian political process, but rather through elimination of democratic politics and imposition of minority rule.
He goes on to raise the spectre of a “majoritarian difficulty.” The piece is worth a look.
February 28, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Posted in: Race
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Responses (1)
Igor - March 18, 2007 at 10:59 am
“majoritarian”? Are you aware that the Bush Administration could use your services? Please don’t forget Nucular.
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