America’s back-and-forth struggle toward equality continues

Now that the Fourth of July mattress sales have closed down and the last flames caused by errant fireworks have been snuffed, Americans should reflect on whether the self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence — that all men are created equal and endowed with certain “unalienable rights” — have actually been realized. An honest assessment would disclose that America has made progress, but it has been a back-and-forth struggle since the first slaves set foot on North American soil.  

Slavery has left an ugly legacy that Americans are still grappling with, even after the Civil War was thought to have resolved the struggle. Former slaves did not begin to experience any measure of equality until after that war. Slavery was, for the most part, abolished by the 13th Amendment in 1865. States were required in 1866 to accord equal rights to everyone under the 14th Amendment. In 1870, the 15th Amendment prohibited denial of the right of citizens to vote, based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” These new laws should have ensured equality for the freed slaves, but that did not turn out to be the case. 

For every step that the country has taken to fulfill the promise of equality, we have experienced a reaction, driven either by ill will or indifference or a combination of both, that has hindered the attainment of equality. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminating affirmative action in college admissions is just the latest example of the backsliding that has been inherent in the system since the Civil War dust settled. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a remarkable dissent in the case, identifying structural barriers that slaves and their progeny have faced in trying to attain a measure of equality. She posits that the lack of educational opportunities has hindered the achievement of equality across the board: “Given the central role that education plays in breaking the cycle of racial inequality, these structural barriers reinforce other forms of inequality in communities of color.” The dissent factually deflates the critical race theory hysteria, another barrier that extremist media and cynical politicians dredged up in the fall of 2020 to blunt the Black Lives Matter movement and influence that year’s elections. 

The back-and-forth equality struggle began in earnest in the wake of the Civil War. 

The freed slaves enjoyed their paper rights to equality for a number of years but slowly and relentlessly those rights were taken away by white supremacists. Laws were enacted at the state and local level to establish racial segregation and keep Blacks from voting, receiving a decent education and exercising other basic rights. These laws continued in effect throughout the first half of the 20th century. 

Business and social practices took hold across the country through the mid-century to keep Blacks from living in white communities. Blacks could not get housing loans for certain areas through a practice called redlining. Restrictions in deeds and covenants kept Blacks out of many neighborhoods. Those restrictions, though now unenforceable, can still be found in the property documents of many states. 

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for Black kids were not constitutionally permissible. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited a broad range of discriminatory practices, including in employment, housing and access to public accommodations. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to provide people of color with equal access to the polls. These were certainly important steps toward achieving equality for all Americans. However, before the ink was dry on them, politicians who opposed them began laying the groundwork for repealing or, at minimum, undermining them. 

Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority, assisted by many of Donald Trump’s appointees to the lower federal courts, has been effective at reversing the march toward equal rights. This reversal is in keeping with our historic back-and-forth struggle for equality. 

Despite America’s efforts to eliminate discrimination, Black and brown people still do not enjoy the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that the rest of the nation takes for granted. The disproportionate death rate among people of color in the pandemic and its wake speaks of the need for attention to the health needs of these citizens. The effort in some states to make it harder for these folks to vote spells out the need for remedial action. 

This is a wonderful country but its blessings are not equally available to all who live here. We are a work in progress and, while progress has been made in the last 247 years, we still have a long way to go. Parents of all races should have confidence that their child who leaves home wearing a hoodie will come home safely, that they and their children will have access to good medical care, and that they will have equal access to a polling place and a quality education. History shows that the march toward equality can prevail, so long as we all do our part to make it succeed. 

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho’s attorney general (1983-1991) and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is a regular contributor to The Hill.