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Black as a Legal Status

4 października 2022 0

Ikea Catu and partner Carmen Guzman celebrate Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Washington, D.C., 2015. The couple married in Canada in 2009 because their marriage was not legalized in their home state of Virginia. Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post via Getty Images After the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, women attempted to assert their full civil rights under the law, including the right to vote. But the courts have not supported these demands, and so women`s rights activists have been working for other laws that would guarantee equal rights regardless of gender. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted women the right to vote. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), first proposed in 1923, was passed by Congress in 1972, but could not obtain the required state votes for ratification. Since then, activists have continued to fight against gender-based discrimination through legal, political and social means. To be clear, the case for a vision beyond borders does not depend on the claim that there is a common anti-black reality in the Western Hemisphere.32×32. The three fundamental reasons for taking a global perspective on black subordination almost certainly apply, at least to some extent, to other forms of submission, but further exploration of this topic would be beyond the scope of this essay. The extent to which Afro`s descendants shared experiences in America is certainly controversial. For example, economic subordination, although present in many countries of the hemisphere, is not universal.

In Panama, people who identify as black or dark-skinned have a higher average income than members of another racial group or people with different colored skin.33×33. Bailey et al., note 12 above, at 739-40, 755-56. The racial categories compared to Panama were in order of income: Black, White, Mestizo, Mulatto and Indigenous Indians. Id. at p. 751. But cosmopolitan arguments for paying attention to foreign suffering do not necessarily depend on the extent of that suffering. As for the reason for learning, the transnational variation in the nature or extent of black subordination actually argues in favor of trying to learn from transnational comparisons.

If variations in experience correlate with variations in laws, it may be possible to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of alternative legal responses. Finally, the arguments on networking clearly contemplate the possibility that the abandonment of subordination could be delayed or accelerated by foreign influences. Around the world, people of African descent („Afro-descendants”) – to use one of the broadest possible definitions of darkness – are over-represented among the poor and destitute.2×2. It is clear that not all people of African descent, either by themselves or by others, are identified as black. See for example Edward Telles & Tianna Paschel, who is black, white or mixed-race? How Skin Color, Status and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America, 120 am. J. Socio. 864, 865–66 (2014) (Discussion on the determinants of racial classification in Latin America). In fact, this essay will show that the concept of darkness can vary from place to place and from time to time. Any attempt to understand the role that law has played in the past – and may play in the future – in causing or mitigating these models of subordination should take into account that, while these models have enormous diversity, they also transcend national boundaries and operate on a global scale. These results are basic elements of postcolonial analyses of black culture.3×3. See General Deborah A.

Thomas & Kamari Maxine Clarke, Globalization and the Transformations of Race, in Globalization and Race: Transformations in the Cultural Production of Blackness 1 (Kamari Maxine Clarke & Deborah A. Thomas eds., 2006); Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (1993). Less well documented is why or how the relationship between law and black experience should be analyzed from a global perspective.4×4. But see Henry J. Richardson III, The Origins of African-American Interests in International Law 441–74 (2008); Hope Lewis, Transnational Dimensions of Race in America, 72 Alta. L. Rev. 999, 1022–23 (2009). For example, it is not immediately clear why the killing of a black man by police in the United States should lead to protests around the world. Nor is it clear that members of the Congressional Black Caucus — or the activists or academics who support them — would ever examine the experiences of blacks outside the United States while formulating a program of legal reform. This essay argues that there are several good reasons why legislators, activists, or academics who anticipate legal responses to black subordination should reject narrow-mindedness and approach their task from a global perspective; The challenge is to do this while avoiding the inherent pitfalls.

In 1892, Homer Plessy of New Orleans, Louisiana, volunteered to test the legality of railroad car separation in that state. He sat in a „white-only” car, refused to change to a separate car, was arrested and prosecuted. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1896 that racial segregation was legal as long as shelters were „separate but equal.” Scientists and activists outside brazil may be interested in these developments simply because they care about the well-being of Afro-Brazilians. The Brazilian experience could also be an opportunity to learn and, if the lessons are learned by sufficiently powerful actors, a source of influence. There are at least three different forms that learning can take. First, the Brazilian experience could reveal previously unimaginable legal strategies. Scientists, activists or policymakers who have never thought of basing quotas on a combination of race, class and income might be encouraged to consider such a system for their own jurisdiction.

Second, to the extent that Brazilian judges and legislators have reached a well-considered verdict that quotas lead to integration rather than division, this view could merit respect and be seen as a reason to reach a similar conclusion on the likely consequences of adopting quotas in other contexts.39×39. Professor Julie C. Suk seems to cite Brazilian case law to this end. See Suk, op. cit. Cit. Note 34, 240-44. Third, the effects of the Brazilian experiment – as opposed to the mere possibility or the fact that it was achieved – could be revealing and serve as a criterion for progress in other countries. Of course, in order to obtain information on the impact, it would be necessary to monitor the evolution of race relations in Brazil over time and to determine whether the observed trends are due to quotas rather than other factors. A second justification for trying to understand and combat the subordination of blacks across borders is the opportunity to learn.

Sharing and comparing experiences across countries can help identify both common problems and effective (or ineffective) legal responses.23×23. See GeneralItes A. Bowen and Ayanna Legros, A Hemispheric Approach to Contemporary Black Activism, 49 NACLA Rep. on Ams. 26, 26–27 (2017). This justification reflects Professor Tommie Shelby`s call for a „pragmatic” approach to black solidarity. Tommie Shelby, We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity 153 (2005); See ID. at 150-54. Comparative artists often advocate the potential benefits of studying foreign law.24×24. See General Mathias Siems, Comparative Law 2-4 (2nd ed. 2018).

And there is a long tradition of advocates for the advancement of blacks in America learning and drawing inspiration from their peers in other parts of the world. Abolitionists around the world have regularly cited the Haitian revolution as a lesson in rebellion as a path to emancipation.25×25. See, for example, Hooker, op. cit. note 20, pp. 41-42. And American civil rights activists in the 1960s cited independence movements around the world as inspiration for their own efforts.26×26. See, for example, Martin Luther King Jr.`s letter to Bishop C.C.J.

Carpenter et al. 12 (Apr. 16, 1963), okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf [perma.cc/W2ML-SQTF] [hereinafter letter from a Birmingham prison] („Consciously and unconsciously, [the American Negro] was swept away by what the Germans call the zeitgeist, and with his black brother from Africa and his brown and yellow brothers from Asia, from South America and the Caribbean, he moves with a sense of cosmic urgency to the Earth promise of racial justice. »). The U.S. Supreme Court stated in Dred Scott v. Sanford that blacks, whether free or enslaved, were not citizens, but „a distinct category of people.” This decision protected the institution of slavery, which defined slaves as property, and supported discriminatory laws that denied free blacks the same citizenship status.

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