The Most Important Policies That Impacted African Americans

By Danielle Kwateng
Although many believe the country has not changed much in the past fifty years, there have been several laws that counter those arguments. From affirmative action policies to voting rights ordinances to drug laws, these 11 policies have changed and impacted the African-American community for better or for worse.

Additional Reporting by De’Juan Galloway

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Arizona Senate Bill 1070

The highly debated law allows for law enforcement to racially profile persons that appear to be an immigrant and demand on spot for verification of their citizenship. U.S. federal law requires certain aliens to register with the U.S. government and to have registration documents in their possession at all times. The Arizona Act additionally makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring, and transporting illegal aliens.
Date Enacted: April 2010
Political Proponents: Gov. Jan Brewer, Senator Russell Pearce, John McCain, and Sarah Palin
Effect on African-Americans: The law, which aims to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants is feared to be the first of many legal steps to discriminate against those of non-Caucasian races.

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Arizona House Bill 2281

Just six weeks after signing the controversial immigration laws, Arizona enacted the ban on ethnic studies in public schools that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” According to Politico, “Brewer signed the bill Tuesday that targets Chicano studies programs currently being taught in Tucson schools. Proponents of the bill argue that the classes are designed only for students of a particular race and promote ethnic solidarity over community integration.” In addition, teachers who don’t meet new fluency standards have the option of taking classes to improve their English or will be fired if they don’t met the state standards.
Date Enacted: May 2010
Proponents: Gov. Jan Brewer and state school chief Tom Horne
Effect on African-Americans: The Tucson School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies focused on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group. Horne claims that certain classes teach that whites oppressed other ethnicities in history, encouraging students to resent a particular race.

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Voting Rights Act

After non-violent marches, bloody protests and decades of discrimination, the Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965. Pushed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the law granted African-Americans the right to vote void discriminatory voting practices. In 2006 when it was up for extension several Republican lawmakers acted to amend, delay or defeat renewal of the Act for various reasons. Nonetheless, it was reauthorized for 25 more years by Pres. George W. Bush, a year before its expiration date.
Date Enacted: August 1965 (extended July 2006)
Proponents: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Rep. John Lewis, Pres. George W. Bush, Sen. Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi.
Effect on African-Americans: One of the most prominent laws, breaking Jim Crow policies in the U.S. the Voting Rights Act allotted millions of African-Americans to vote without obstructions at the time and still today.

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Executive Order 10925

Signed by JFK in 1961, Executive Order 10925 was one of the first laws that required government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and treated equally during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. In 1967, President Johnson extended the order to include women. Later the law became a proponent for the creation of the Equal Opportunity Commission that enforces laws against workplace discrimination.
Date Enacted: March 1961
Proponent: John F. Kennedy
Effect on African-Americans: This law allowed for all minorities to get an equal opportunity for job prospects. Before the order, qualified blacks were barred from working at certain establishments without legitimate reasoning.

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Proposition 209

California’s Proposition 209 was signed into law in 1996, banning public institutions from complying with affirmative action. The controversial policy set the national stage for other states to adopt similar bans including Michigan, Nebraska, Washington and Connecticut. The case for the Supreme Court to ban affirmative action gets stronger as more states adopt policies for their jurisdictions.
Date Enacted: November 1996
Proponent: Ward Connerly
Effect on African-Americans: Since the proposition went into effect after much opposition, African-American enrollment at the prestigious University of California system dropped significantly and the long term effects are still yet to be seen.

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Financial Reform Bill

After a tumultuous financial crisis causing the worst recession in American history, the Obama administration created a series of financial acts to revive the economy. In conjunction with the other provisions, the Reform Bill protects borrowers against abuses in mortgage, credit card and other types of lending. The bill also requires 30 federal financial agencies and departments, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and all 12 Federal Reserve banks, to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.
Date Enacted: July 2010
Proponents: Pres. Barack Obama, Sen. Chris J. Dodd, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Nancy Pelosi.
Effect on African-Americans: Not only does this allow for more protection against unlawful lenders, but will allow more diversity in financial institutions including Wall Street and banking companies.

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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The health reform legislation got an exorbitant amount of attention this year, because of the role of insurance coverage. The legislation constitutes more affordable health care, expanding coverage to all Americans. It also provides tax cuts for middle class families, ends discrimination of those with preexisting conditions and promises to lower the nation’s deficit.
Date Enacted: March 2010
Proponents: Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Charles Rangel, Kendrick Meek and Linda Sanchez

Effect on African-Americans: With 19.6 percent of African-Americans not being insured and many suffering from illness considered “preexisting” this bills allows for millions to get the medical care they deserve.

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The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010

Known to many as the crack cocaine law, this bill was a breakthrough in a 24-year struggle to lower the sentencing for distributors of the narcotic. The bipartisan supported act narrows the divide between crack and powder cocaine busts to18-1. At the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, the law convicted those possessing crack with prison sentences equal to persons possessing 100 times that amount in powder cocaine.
Date Enacted: July 2010
Political Proponents: Barack Obama, Richard Durbin, Eric Holder, Sherrod Brown, Roland Burress, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatchand, and Benjamin Cardin.
Effect on African-Americans: Historically crack was more accessible to African-Americans than cocaine, primarily used by whites. Millions of blacks went to jail in the 24 years for small quantities of the drug, because of the original law. U.S. News & World Report found that according to U.S. Sentencing Commission figures, no class of drug is as racially skewed as crack in terms of numbers of offenses. According to the commission, 79 percent of 5,669 sentenced crack offenders in 2009 were black, versus 10 percent who were white and 10 percent who were Hispanic. The figures for the 6,020 powder cocaine cases are far less skewed: 17 percent of these offenders were white, 28 percent were black, and 53 percent were Hispanic. Combined with a 115-month average imprisonment for crack offenses versus an average of 87 months for cocaine offenses, this made for more African-Americans spending more time in the prison system.

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Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act

Originally enacted in 1990, its namesake is in honor of the high school student who was shunned out of school for contracting HIV from a blood transfusion. President Obama recently signed the re-authorization, extending it for four more years. The law is the largest federal program specifically dedicated to providing HIV care and treatment and supports local community-based organizations to provide life-saving medical care, medications, and support services to more than half a million people each year:
Date Enacted: August 1990 (extended October 2009)
Proponents: Michael Jackson, Elton John, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama
Effect on African-Americans: The extension that will increase funding by 5 percent over the next four years, will give $2.55 billion in support this year. African-Americans account for 51 percent of the new HIV cases, 48 percent of the total cases, and is the leading cause of death for black women between the ages of 25 and 34.

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Executive Order 11458

Signed under the Richard Nixon administration, it mandated the Commerce Department to create the U.S. Office of Minority Business Enterprise that contributes “to the establishment, preservation, and strengthening of minority business enterprise.” In an effort to promote education, employment and business development opportunities the order allowed for more minority business to launch.
Date Enacted: March 1969
Proponent: Richard Nixon
Effect on African-Americans: Since the order was signed, the number of black owned businesses has grown to 5.8 million, more than twice the rate of all U.S. businesses, the bureau said.

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Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

The Financial Services Modernization Act was passed on November 5, 1999. The legislation resulted in deregulation of the the financial sector, allowing banks, insurance companies and investment firms to sell each other products. Many consider the measure the greatest financial overhaul since the Great Depression Era, as it further repealed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Glass-Steagall Act that entailed provisions that prohibited a bank holding company from owning other financial companies. The reform was praised for its bipartisan sweep promising  “free markets and consumer protection.”

Date Enacted: November 1999
Proponent: Bill Clinton, James Clayburn, Harold Ford, William Jefferson, Shelia Lee, and Charles Rangel.
Effect on African-Americans: The deregulated market coupled with former president Bill Clinton’s 1995 amendment of the Community Reinvestment Act mandated lenders to provide access to capital for low income communities. Both caused relaxed lending practices, thus creating a pervasive lending environment in which mortgage brokers geo-targeted sub-prime mortgages. Due entirely to sub-prime loans, black borrowers are expected to lose between $71 billion and $92 billion and have been disproportionately affected by home foreclosures throughout the nation.