Hinduism Law vs. US Common Law: A Legal Comparison

                

The law of India is a complex system of rules and regulations in modern India that have been derived directly from the Hindu religion as well as being developed from the English common law. The Indian constitution is the longest constitution ever written in any country, containing more than 444 articles. The United States common law also emerged from the English common law but through coming years has made many adjustments (Glenn, 2010). Like English family law, India’s family law in India is based on religious scriptures, but English law was based on Christianity while India is based directly on Hinduism. Hindu family law is personal law applied to certain populations in India as well as codified in civil law procedures, while the United States family common law is also codified through civil hearings but is more generally applied to all citizens and visitants of the country.

   In India there exists dharma, a principle which is the legally binding term for obligations and duties to be fulfilled by Hindus according to sacred scriptures. The Bhagavad Gita is the sacred text for the Hindu religion that has all the dharmatic principles of life for the Hindu community as well as the legally binding material that a committed follower must abide by (Menski, 2001). Indian law in modern day India applies to Jainists, Buddhists, and Sikhs—as a result of their religious law not being fully developed for application. Indian family law is not applicable to Muslim families living in India. Much of the influence behind modern day Indian family law stems from the British, when they arrived in the seventeenth century with the intention to integrate both Muslim and Hindu law as territorial law. However, Hindu law was a lot more resilient than the British expected and it soon became the law for all Hindus, with time it became part of other religions in India as well (Glenn, 2010).

    In modern India, there exist complex family structures. The most popular is the Hindu Joint family, which involve the unification of extended family formed by an arranged marriage. In these types of family the leader is the Karta, the head of the family that takes all the decisions regarding financial and basic aspects of the family, most of the time is the eldest of the household. The other type of family structure present in India is the nuclear family, which typically is a married couple with one or more children (Subramian, 2008). Like in India, in the United States nuclear families are popular, consisting of two cohabitating or married persons who take care of their offspring, making a family support system. In the U.S., both partners may be working and supporting each other financially or there may be one parent staying home, while in India the majority of the cases are where the male supports the household in nuclear families and the wife stays home. In the U.S., cohabitation is seen as a norm, it is very common, however in India, and cohabitation between two unmarried persons is deemed as a deviant way of life and frowned upon by other people (Stone, 2002).

   In Indian law, child marriages have been common and legitimatized in rural areas of India, they involve an arranged agreement between the parents of the children in order to benefit each other financially. However, these children will not officially live a married life until they reach their adolescence. They were legalized as part of the Hindu legal tradition, but have been decreased in many parts of India. It’s a traditional law, different from modern state laws and there is conflict because of the morality of it. However they have been legitimatized through the state’s recognition in the Hindu family laws (Francavilla, 2011). Child marriages in the United States are illegal and practically non-existent.

   In the United States family law, there is what is termed as sui juris marriage or simply common-law marriage, where there is a unification of two people that is legally recognized as a marriage even though there has not been a contract entered into a marriage registry. In India, there are similar wedding traditions, however weddings are celebrated grandiosely and may last many days. Wedding ceremonies may involve saptapadi, where there are seven steps by the bride and groom taken to join together before the sacred fire, wedding is completed by the end of the 7^th step. In the U.S., common law marriages may not have a ceremony at all, making the marriage legitimate by cohabitation and interaction (Menski, 2001). In India, same-sex marriage is not common at all, many Hindu followers have strong oppositions against it while some support it, there is no religious Hindu text condemning homosexuality directly, it is still an ambiguous subject in Indian law, not yet codified. In 2009, the Delhi High Court legitimized homosexual interactions between adults, throughout India. India has allowed there to be interaction between the same sexes but not marriage, but it is still very uncommon, and yet unsurprisingly, these practices are more acceptable for men than for women. In the United States, same-sex marriage has not been recognized at the federal level, however, it has been recognized by a couple of states, Massachusetts being the first to legalize gay/lesbian  marriage (Redding, 2010).

The dowry is a form of property or monetary value that is brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage day. The position of the dowry has caused many problems in modern India, causing the number of murders due to dowry incidences have multiplied in India in the past years. Married women are subject to being burned to death, murdered by husbands or in-laws who feel their demands for their dowry have not been fulfilled (Stone, 2002). These crimes are reflective of the women’s lack of economic power in modern India but at the same time are contrasted with the diminishing power of Indian women traditionally exercised through their use of fertility of their child bearing powers. Also, Indian feminist have criticized the uniform civil code for India, which would allow the governmental sovereignty over all marriages, divorces, and other family matters. Communalism is the term used to women’s equality concerns and religious advocacy which keep challenging India’s personal law system (Redding, 2008). The United States seems to pride itself in being more liberal and having marriages appear to be made from simple “love” rather than for monetary interest.

Abortion is a subject that is of really high debate in the United States, it is also the conflict in many outside countries, like India.  According to the Baghavad Gita, the most sacred Hindu religious text, voluntary abortion is seen as a violation of natural law and it is believed that bad karma may be imposed on the individual later in life. Under the Hindu belief system, all life is sacred because all creatures are manifestations of the Supreme Being- atman and Paramatman. There is a belief in the cycle of birth and rebirth in Hinduism as well as a belief in internal law of Karma. They believe the soul enters the womb at the time of conception and this makes fetus a living, individual person. Abortion is seen as interfering with natures arrangements. Abortion may be the subject of discussion and perhaps appeal when the life of the mother is threatened by the baby inside her (Prabhupada, 1972). In the United States, abortion has not been federally recognized or legalized, however some clinics in certain states provide this practice without judicial penalty to the patient (Radas, 2009).

    In modern day India, divorce has also been constantly going through many legislative changes. The most impacting legislative change occurred in the 1970s, when Hindu law was transcended, and given the right for Christians, Parsis, and Hindus the right to divorce for more fault-based reasons, making it easier to obtain a divorce than in previous years. However, divorce rates remain stable, perhaps due to the strict religious guidelines in Hinduism, where divorce may be imposed as the fault of the woman for failing to please her husband (Redding, 2008). In the United States, divorce is seen as practically the norm. Dissolving a common law marriage however still must be legally processed through the pertinent court and then decided by the  jurisdictive officials. It is legal everywhere in the United States and does require some paperwork to be filed, but is not as a complicated or tedious procedure as it is in India. In India, there is also a continuing frowned upon gesture for divorced women and men in India. When filing for divorce there is a purposeful delay period to review the documents as to have time for the couples contemplate getting back together (Subramian, 2008).

In India, there exists a lot of coexistence between religions, just like in the Unites States. In Sha’ria law, there is a practice of polygamy that is acceptable within the Islamic religion, however in India, polygamy has been frowned upon. Despite the inconveniences, the supreme court of India has refused to strike down the Muslim practice of polygamy, but has prohibited the right to polygamy for Hindu men who have converted to Islam. Most Muslim practices in India are strictly designed to be accessed only by Muslim practitioners, like they are trying to make polygamy exclusive to their own community. Most Hindu law in itself applies directly to the people born under Hinduism and those who have converted but still reside in India (Wardle, 2006). In contrast to the United States, polygamy is not legally recognized. However, there have been cases were people of certain religions will cohabitate with more than one partner and it is not seen as illegal in the United States.  

In the United States, common-law marriage is not as common as it was decades ago, but it is still legitimate in many states. There is a total of ten states and the District of Columbia who still allow this practice, however it can no longer be contracted in twenty-seven other states, and the other thirteen never allowed it either way. In the United States Supreme Court ruling of Meister v. Moore, the principle of common-law marriage was validated in Michigan, by ruling that this state had not yet abolished common law marriage and allowed the state to set establishing laws for the solemnization of marriage (Raday, 2009). The requirement for common-law marriage in the United States is different across states, some states require the couple to have been cohabitating for a couple of years, while other states need couples to have been cohabitating and set themselves out to the world as a married couple by having accounts or other joint documentations together. Mutual consent is always required in all common law marriages in the United States, differing from India, where mutual consent is not the case, since most marriages are arranged by the family elders. In Indian family law, common law marriage is the norm and marriage contracts are optional and most couples decide to not have any documentation and just follow the seven steps of the saptapadi if they follow Hinduism.

Family law in the United States if the single largest area of law practice in the country, having thirty-three percent of all civil cased being domestic relation cases. Unfortunately, Indian law will not be allowing any type of monetary right for the entitlement to a married status, meaning that if a couple is divorced there is no spousal or child support as there is here in the United States (Menski, 2001). An important distinction between the United States’ common law and Indian family law is the procedures that occur when a woman is left a widower by her husband. In the United States a woman who has had her husband deceased may be subject to compensation if the couple had any documentation together and/or if she was in his testament. To contrast, in India, when a woman is left a widower and has nothing to fend for herself, she may end up homeless and begging on the streets as is the case most of the times due to extreme poverty. The family of the deceased husband may choose whether to help the widower or not, sadly, many women are left without a penny and asked to abandon their in-laws house if they live there. The in-laws of the widower may choose to divest her of any financial compensation or choose to help her out for a short time (Stone, 2002). Fortunately, remarrying is available, but since there is a low divorce in India, it may be hard to remarry again.

Indian law is not only applicable to all Hindus but to other cultures and ethnicities that live in India as well, it may no longer be referred to Hindu law in the future, but the standard has not yet been set. Common-law marriage in the United States and in India is very tentatively similar despite the celebrations held, if any, because of the unification of two persons without the need to document anything into a registry. Anti-abortionists in India and in the United States may have similar arguments, stating that at the start of conception there is already a person, while dismissing the term fetus from use. Divorce showed to be the most differencing in India and in the United States, mainly due to the rates of it, divorce may be seen as the new norm in the United States and easier to obtain than in India. In India, there is still debate of divorce, many believe marriage is sacred and very much flexible but to dissolve it, it would take a very drastic reason for it. Many topics in family law across India and in the U.S. seem to be very similar, like abortion and same-sex marriage debates.   India is a highly educated country that keeps modernizing with the coming time, with time the hope is that India will progressively change laws to become more adaptable to the fair treatment of everyone living in India; for women, children, and even Muslims who are the minority in India.

Environmental Racism: The Case of Air Pollition and Minority Communities

Environmental Racism: The Case of Air Pollution

                                                         By: Jessica Soriano

Disclaimer: Please use with permission. Work is protected under Copyright Law of the United States, § 506. Criminal offenses4, Which states that (1) In general. — Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed and is subject to abide by penal codes.

                         When we think of environmentalism, we fail to recognize how the stratification of race as a social construction has affected the overall right to breathe clean air. Race has been historically used to divide and segregate the human race into a complex hierarchy, where the group at the top is seen as socially superior and therefore are granted privilege and the ones at the bottom are seen as inferior, therefore exposed to social brutalization.  For years, racial minorities have been deprived of environmental information, not meaning they have been uninterested, simply that they have not been granted this information by the privileged in our society. History shows us that the groups at the bottom of the social latter are not as educated as the privileged due to social oppression, making it even harder to obtain basic information of the natural world. What does that tell us about our society? The elite have concurrently taken advantage of People of Color, viewing them as nowhere near of a political threat due to their abominable and savagely portrayal, making it nearly impossible for them to live in an environmentally healthy location. Over history and current times, we see that ethnic minorities are the ones most prevalently affected by air pollution, suffering from severe health complications and other ailments.

                   Historically speaking,  people of color have been the main target of distortion by the privileged and the government itself—through environmental dangers, stereotype threats, segregation, political discrimination, etc.  Environmental research in the past years has been conducted in order to examine the correlation between the demographics of people and their risk and prevalence for diseases. It has been found that when comparing community-level exposure to air toxins with socioeconomic, political, and demographic characteristics of a population, that there is a substantial difference in those with a privileged lifestyle than those without one. In comparing many different U.S. zip codes there is a great disparity in exposure to air pollution with race, Black communities in the east part of the United States have historically been the most affected by polluted surroundings, but now Latinos(as) are the most affected nationally. Voter turnout also affects exposure; the cities with fewer amounts of voters tend to be the ones with higher levels of toxins (Brooks and Sethi 1997). It’s statistically shown that many Latinos in the United States cannot vote due to their legal status and this evidently plays a component of their exposure to air pollution.  It is also now devastatingly known that 80 percent Latinos, 65 percent of African Americans, and 57 percent of Whites live in the 437 counties in the U.S. that failed to meet at least one of the country’s ambient air quality standards (Bullard, 2005).

                 When referring to polluted air quality, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has six common air pollutants that they seek to reduce in the current environment due to their harmful effects on health, they include: ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, and particular matter (epa.gov). Once these common air pollutants enter the human body, they persist and accumulate in tissues creating carcinogens that lead to cancers and other harmful diseases.  These pollutants have been shown by much supported research that they cause: psychiatric disorders, increased hospital admittance, fertility complication, birth defects, impaired lung function, mortality, lung complications, and heart disease (O’Neill, et al, 2003). There needs to be increased awareness for air pollution because it is projected that 65 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by the year 2065. Worldwide more than 40 percent of the world’s children are estimated to live in polluted cities of developing worlds and the number is projected to increase. The tormenting statistics for those affected by air pollution in the world, unfortunately, are expected to increase in hazard because of the increasing metropolitan industrialization in developing countries. 

                   In the 1960s and 1970s, there was an up source about awareness on air pollution, when many ethnic minorities came to the realization that they were living in toxic conditions, thanks to research. There was criticism against U.S. air pollution policy for not having equal uniform application in their ways of regulating when the distribution of policy was considered along with the financial costs of enforcing policy. It’s a fact that better environmental enforcement will go to the community that has more income and are more active in political election. Governmental officials are significantly enforcing environmental regulations in prestigious areas but lacking the care or concern for underprivileged neighborhoods, it was evident through freeway construction and eminent domain in the Los Angeles Area. In the late 1950s, there was strong opposition against the 5 freeway construction in Los Angeles because it would destroy a lot of monumental and commercial areas in East Los Angeles. Despite opposition, the state still went ahead and constructed the freeway and it served to generate a large multitude of air pollution stemming from diesel and fuel burning from automobiles in East Los Angeles, which is mostly composed of Mexican Americans. This abuse directly from the government officials to the people of East Los Angeles is also a good example of showing how much the county respected Chicanos (as).This aspect of air pollution policy is inconsistent with any desire to remedy all areas of the nation equally; despite the fact that they claimed it to be their primary goal (Gianessi, 1979). These policies did regulate the treatment of the polluters but certainly did not have uniform treatment of those directly affected by pollution—minorities.

                   As there were an increasing number of those concerned with air pollution, it was not sufficient for ethnic minorities’ social visibility. Kassarjian (1971) researched the emerging concerns for ecological balance within the environment. In 1970, the Standard Oil Company of California introduced a new gasoline with an added ingredient named F-310 in the Los Angeles county area that promised to reduce gas emissions and was supported by public officials. However, months later a study found that it caused more health hazards than with just regular gasoline alone. It was found that those who decided to try this gasoline, were people who were environmentally conscious and evidently educated—the privileged. Juxtaposing the concern with higher income and race, most of the ones who supported this new promising gas were indeed of European ancestry.  Then again, during this time, just after the Civil Rights movement, ethnic minorities had just been granted the right to civil education, so it was evident that most were environmentally unaware of policies and the risks they were being exposed to.

                 In the year 2000, minorities like Blacks, Native Americans, and Latinos were ranked among the most affected by toxic air pollution when compared to all other races. Pace 2005, highlighted in his article the comparison and results of using Census data from the year 2000 to get emission data exposure on certain populations. He found in his analysis that more than four of every ten blacks in Kentucky, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Minnesota lived in high-risk neighborhoods with toxic air pollutants. He also found that in Michigan, 8.3 percent of the people living in toxic areas were Latino. The average income in the highest prone to pollution neighborhoods was $18,806, according to the Census 2000. One of every six people in the high-risk areas lived in poverty, compared with one of eight elsewhere (Pace, 2005). Simpson, G. & Milton, J. (1985) explain that Latinos are much more significantly affected by air pollution because they live in densely populated barrios and ghettos with impoverished conditions. These areas are of very high risk because it’s likely that most of the members of the community are experiencing health difficulties brought on by air pollution, infection, diseases, and other hazards obtained from their environment. They also explain that having low skilled jobs is also a factor of being exposed to industrial pollution and most of the time they are paid equal to or lesser than minimum wage. Historically and currently, the cause of such bad health of Latinos and Black may just be the environment they are exposed to, socially and physically.

                  Industrial pollution is the main cause of air pollution in the United States. Kwak (2009) argues that corporations do not bear or measure the costs of external damage around them like air pollution –they continue to create it without really analyzing what it’s causing around them or to their employees. The effects of industrial company’s pollution result in affecting low-socioeconomic cities with little to no political power. It is estimated 15 percent of negative impacts from industrial pollution falls on the very poor, who make up 12.9% of the population.  At the extremes, the disparities can be large; for example, ExxonMobil, one of the biggest polluters in the U.S. has a 55 percent effect on pollution impact on African-Americans, largely because of two Baton Rouge facilities that together generate 60 percent of its total pollution (Kwak, 2009). Toxic air pollutants from corporations are those emissions thrown into the air from known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects and adverse environmental effects. The EPA works to control 188 pollutants from the environment. These toxins and pollutants are but not limited to: benzene, methylene chloride, dioxin, asbestos, toluene, cadmium, mercury, and others. Most air toxics come from human-made sources like cars emissions, factories, power plants, and even indoor sources like cleaning solvents or building materials (Kwak, 2009).

                   There have been many environmental justice movements nationally that have had a strong impact on the EPA’s policies, many have been successful others relatively not. Chambers (2007) found that in Hartford, Connecticut, environmental health problems disproportionately affect poor and minority residents of the city. The community of Hartford fortunately found about these disparities and currently has organizations that are trying to and have created a multiracial organization composed of both urban and suburban residents to fight for environmental justice. The Hartfort Environmental Justice Network (HEJN) from Connecticut is an example of what an oppressed community with little political power does to fight against corporate America’s pollution. Chambers (2007), advices that there needs to be an ongoing common subject, interest for one self’s health and as well as the rest in order to have a successful organization. This city is one of Connecticut’s poorest and has had triumph in getting noticed.

                    The EPA is an agency set out to “protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.” (EPA.gov). This Agency was created in order to help control the hazardous air pollutants that were being created in the 60s and . However, it is mostly composed of older Euro American men (Bullard, 2005). These EPA elected officials who are not representative of the actual population are making decisions of the air we breathe and the ecology we are exposed to as minorities. Fortunately through the many environmental justice movements in the 1960s, there have been environmental policies enacted in order to better control the air we breathe. The most significant act was passed in 1970. The Clean Air Act (CAA) which was enacted in order to regulate air emissions into the environment, it seeks to “protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.” (epa.gov). The Emergency Planning &Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) was passed as a way to better educate communities about their environmental rights, it states that, “This law is designed to help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment from chemical hazards.” (epa.gov).  The EPA also defines "Acid rain" as a broad term referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition from the environment containing harsh amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. In order to keep the population better informed, the EPA releases a Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI) each year, a publication that reports the companies with the highest levels of pollutants. Their mission statement of this publication is to, inform the communities of possible polluters near them.

                The government eventually did become interested in air pollution which Congress’ reasoning to support the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, in order to better assist the affected communities. The start of congress’ interest in air pollution began as early as in 1949. The numbers of air pollution control bills were low up until the intervention of President Eisenhower in 1955, leading to the enactment of the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 to conduct more research on air pollution (Bailey, 1998). Overall, congress’ interest in air and water pollution became increasing with the public’s concern for it and with more research escalating the harmful effects of air pollution. The Congress has been highly supportive of the EPA and it has shown, since 1990, the total annual emissions of 188 regulated toxins have declined by 36 percent. The government also enforces environmental laws under section 414 [42 U.S.C. 7651], which states that “It  shall be unlawful for any person   to this title to violate any prohibition of, requirement of, or regulation promulgated pursuant to this title shall be a violation of this Act[Clean Air Act]” (epa.gov).

                 Everywhere in the United States, ethnic minorities are being affected by large quantities of air toxins and pollutants. Mantaay (2007) performed a case study in the Bronx, New York, measuring asthma levels and exposure to air toxins found that, “people living near noxious land uses were up to 66 percent more likely to be hospitalized for asthma, and were 30 percent more likely to be poor and 13 percent more likely to be a minority than those outside the buffers” (pg. 13). Asthma induced by bad air quality affects children and the elderly in the Bronx, who mostly are from African descent. Everything was measured from disease mapping, epidemiological inquiries, and health service analysis.

                  In Phoenix, Arizona there is a devastating amount of air pollution that affects mostly Latino immigrants. Grineski, et al, 2007 found that in Phoenix, Arizona, Latino immigrants and a high percentage of multiracial renters of property were the highest exposed in terms of unhealthy air quality. Euro-Americans were then those who resulted to be benefiting from better air quality in Phoenix.  Due to low population of African Americans in Arizona, there were no significant proportions of African American’ exposed to bad air quality.  The researchers attribute this significant disproportion of the distribution of healthy air quality with the role of white privilege in historical and current development of industrial sites, creating racially segregated neighborhoods. And they continue to build industrial transportation sites near these underprivileged communities (Grineski, et al, 2007).

                       Let us not abandon the importance of the industrial changes in the 1930s, when highway planning started in order to create more economic development. The government justified their taking of minority property with eminent domain, saying that highways would produce more economic development for the states; they evidently didn’t take into consideration the consequences affecting minorities and there was not enough research to justify it (Jarett, 2000).With eminent domain present, the government authorized the purchase of property even though it was purchased for a lesser than fair housing value, they did not care. Perhaps they felt that minorities weren’t educated enough to know that they were being cheated. Highway pollution is extremely dangerous especially in high density areas where there is a lot of cars frequently transporting, the diesel and gas emissions are very harmful to human health. This kind of pollution has been correlated to heart disease, asthma, and brain damage. The damage is done not by smog but by tiny particles in the air, made up of burning fossil fuel and decomposing car parts.  Unfortunately, those living next to these highly polluted areas happen to be Latinos, who are the majority in East Los Angeles. Los Angeles freeways rank among the most polluted in the entire world and nation causing sever health complications to those who live around these highly visited routes and the social awareness is incrementing.

                   In the world today, it has been shown that short-term increases in particulate air pollution are linked with increased daily mortality and severe diseases. It was tested to see whether economic and social class were determinants of susceptibility to polluted environments and bad air quality in Rome, Italy. Not surprisingly, it was found that particulate air pollution is more prevalent in people of low socioeconomic status. Less advantaged people live in bad areas of the city, where there is more pollution like around waste fills and other unhealthy places, because it’s where there is more affordable housing that they can budget (Forastiere, et al, 2007). Globally speaking, everyone who is of an unprivileged position in society is more likely to suffer from exposure of harmful toxins and pollutants than those at the top of the social hierarchy.

                      Air pollution is the highest contributor to global warming—the event where the planet Earth is slowly heating and causing the ice caps to slowly melt, allowing for there to be more ocean than land. Greenhouse gases are solely responsible for causing global warming, these gases which are also harmful to human health include: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and water vapor (Girard, 2011). Air pollution affect everyone and everything around us, like innocent animals like polar bears that have to suffer the consequence of human action by having their habitat destroyed. Without greenhouse gases, according to the EPA, earth would be 60 degrees Fahrenheit colder.

                       If it were not for the EPA’s policies and restrictions, corporate America would probably have caused pollution to that of China’s and still continue to blatantly refuse to care about the human consequences as long as they would receive their commission. In terms of air toxicity, socioeconomic status has shown to be determinant of overall exposure and health, in general. The way humans get exposed to these air toxins are through breathing contaminated air, eating contaminated food, drinking polluted water, or having contact with contaminated particles in the world. Unfortunately, it us, people of color that have to bear the consequences of others through environmental pollution that we may not even have significantly contributed to.

                          There is still not sufficient knowledge by the Latino community about air quality dangers and that needs to be implemented as soon as possible, we have to increase awareness of their direct risk to environmental pollution. We have to realize the exploitation we have been put through by the groups at the top of the social ladder. I personally have family members who have or are currently working in high polluted areas that get paid as much as a retail sales associate; but the harm to their health is more valuable than the wage they’ve conformed to. Other hazards for minorities in low income areas are their food intake most of the time minorities are looking for inexpensive food and they end up being exposed to supermarkets in their neighborhood that sell cheap groceries but that may be highly contaminated with harmful preservatives. Historically people of color have been abused environmentally by corporate American and agency’s whose supposed goal is to protect equally but only end up betraying the communities at risk. Sadly, now it is not just us humans who have to suffer through environmental torture that the privileged in our society have created— it is also innocent, precious animals. Clean air should be a right, not a privilege.

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Struggle for Equality from a Nonviolent Perspective

In the struggle for equality in the United States, minorities have had very profound historical struggles that have all taken different approaches to achieve some degree of social change. Each group has used similar methods in order fighting for their own civil rights; some were nonviolent and passive, while others were very aggressive. There were of course limitations in all these strategies, with much resistance, but most of the groups worked together to help one another by using ideas from another group’s strategy. Mexican Americans used ideas of the Black civil rights movement, inspired by their outcome, like boycotting mechanisms which had great success. The Black liberation movement worked closely with the Gay rights movement, having Bayard Rustin’s support and nonviolent strategies throughout the struggle. Asian Americans and radical feminist both attacked the political and social systems through literary work, by criticizing the way the systems operated and trying to empower their own kind to fight back.

In the 1960s, Mexican Americans started fighting against their useless classification of being “just another white American”. Mexican youth started feeling repressed as an effect of the repression by authority, the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 were formed in Los Angeles as a way to let society know of their visibility while police arrested and harassed Mexican youth. Before 1950, organizations were being founded such as the National Farm Workers Union (NFWO), in California in order to fight the Bracero Program which would lower wages. “Los Agricultores Mexicanos” were formed in Phoenix, Arizona and “La Association de Jornarelos” represented a broad coalition of labor workers which fought against repressive politics. Unfortunately, none of these unions were successful but they did succeed to inspire new unions to emerge in the 1960s. According to Dr. Alvarez’s, the “Chicano Movement” involved Cesar Chavez, a farm worker, who was mentored by Saul Alinsky’s works, became the director of the Community Services Organization (CSO) in 1960, which enabled him to seek agreement at the CSO to begin organization of farm workers. National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) was established with few organizers who went house to house trying to create social awareness of the inequality and poor treatment of farm workers.

Inspired by the nonviolent Black liberation movement, the NFWA organized successful strikes to fight for pay increase, such as the Grape Workers’ Strikes of 1965 which had success in raising the tough work environment the farmers were exposed to. They also gained media attention through these strikes where they were successful in advocating and practicing the boycotting of grape consumption, which was also inspired by the nonviolent mechanisms of the Blacks liberation movement. In order to proceed in a nonviolent movement, Chavez worked under a “Gandhi-King” image to make his union leadership appear pacifist to American’s. In his “Letter to Delano”, Chavez explains that direct confrontation to inherit the land would enable the movement to a social revolution by use of economic pressure of boycott and strikes, in other words, militant nonviolence. To be “free and human”, workers would need to be liberated from the oppression that kept them enslaved in the agricultural business, as Chavez states. The way he achieved this was through organized marches, protests, and boycotts against the agricultural system through a nonviolent approach, which were successful in gaining national attention. He also engaged in a peaceful hunger strike, influenced by Gandhi, where he lasted 25 days and was encouraged by Robert Kennedy, which led to a social movement that led to massive success in the boycotting movement and gaining farmers’ rights.

Limitations of Cesar Chavez movement were very subtle, if his organization would not have been as perseverant and Chavez would have not approached in a nonviolent manner, they probably would have had no success. Some limitations to the Chavez’s strategy also included resistance from many White Americans, who felt that the NFWA was a way to also fight for the citizenship of Mexican Americans altogether. Inspired by the farmer’s movement, the “Plan Espiritual de Aztlan”, seeked to enhance the social position of Mexican Americans by using similar strategies as those used by the Black Panthers because they were fighting for the same things, like “… community organizing against police brutality, better education, and poverty relief.” (pg. 5)

In the initiation of Asian American civil rights, Richard Aoki, a Japanese American was an avid member of the Black Panthers since its initiations; he ultimately used mechanisms by the Brown Berets, Black panthers, and the Women’s liberation movement to promote the Yellow power movement. The Anti-Vietnam movement emerged as a result of many Asian American students coming together to oppose the war in Vietnam because many saw it as American hostility toward ethnic minorities. Asian Americans also had a coalition with the Black Panthers, MECHA, and other protesting against war organization.

Amy Uyematsu was an Asian American activist who also used nonviolent strategies to fight for Asian civil rights. She used the Black power as basis and inspiration for the foundations of the development of Yellow power. She implied that Asians were a small minority that were seen will little visibility in society, due to their quiet “silent Oriental” stereotype. As Uyematsu explains, in “The Emergence of Yellow Power”, there is a grandiose need for Asian powers to unite and imply Yellow Power because other minorities are being more oppressed due to the comparison of groups. Uyematsu argues that “Asian Americans are perpetuating white racism in the United States as they allow white America to hold up the ‘successful’ Oriental image before other minority groups as the model to emulate.” (pg. 56) Uyematsu was aware of the oppression of other minorities and knew that White Americans were criticizing other minorities for not being more like the “silent Orientals” and using this to keep depriving them of equality. The limitations of Uyematsu’s Yellow power struggle included white racist attitudes present in Asian Americans themselves, the ones who tried to assimilate white culture and did not contribute to Asian American civil rights, similar to the limitations of the conforming women in the Women’s rights movement.

In the International Hotel crisis, there was a unification of Asian Americans from various different countries who came together for one cause; this greatly helped the Civil rights movement for Asians. Their nine-year struggle using nonviolent confrontation occurred despite the organizations disagreement on strategy because many had the common goal to protect the elderly and poor. They did so by working as a “multiracial radical party”, being the voice for the unheard, through creating social awareness, as Estella Habal reports. They marched and protested to create pressure on the owner of the hotel to sign another 3-year lease for them and were successful in obtaining it. If it would have not been for their perseverance, motivation, patience, and toleration of each group to one another, this strategy would have had no success.

Homosexuals have long fought for their freedom from the state for the past decades. More homosexuals were “coming out” in the 60s and 70s than ever, they joined in small groups to express their discontentment with society. Like the Black and Brown liberation movement, Gay organizations worked using similar strategies as did Blacks in their struggle. Gays started protests and public demonstrations in order to show to society that they were no longer invisible or hidden. At the beginning of the movement, they took a nonviolent confrontation method to fight against society by protesting in an “appropriate” manner by wearing gender stereotypical clothing and behaving as such. However, these peaceful demonstrations were not very successful, the real success came from the Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York where undercover officers entrapped many gay men and raided The Stonewall Inn. Through combating police oppression and brutality, like the Zoot Suit riots of 1943, they were successful in showing that they were a large population and that they were no longer invisible.

In their nonviolent approach, Gay men decided to influence scientific research to restudy and reconsider its position on homosexuality. Thereafter, in the 70s there was an increase of openly homosexual individuals in legislative positions and the increase for Gay pride. Like the Yellow Power movement, Gays used increase of self-pride in order to empower their community. As the readings explain, the main limitation for the Gay rights movement was the emergence of HIV and AIDS in the Gay community in the 80s. Healthcare practitioners did not want to help out AIDS patients and many saw HIV/AIDS as the “gay plague”, which increased discrimination against. However, once more the Gay community fought back, they recruited Gay doctors to treat AIDS patients and formed many Gay and Lesbian Community centers in the metropolitan cities. Even to this day, the struggle to legalize Gay marriage is in debate, but it persists in a nonviolent manner and will be decided through a judicial process like in past cases like the Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 2003 case.

The Black liberation movement took on many different strategies, many Black protesters decided to organize marches to express their frustration against segregation. Like the NFWA who boycotted grapes for the farmer’s movement, many Blacks, especially women boycotted bus transportation which resulted in the loss of 65% of the bus company business. They instead, walked to their destinations, organized carpools, and fundraisers to find other means of transportation, as stated in the PowerPoint slides. The main limitations of the nonviolent Black power struggle included doubting from many organizations, like the NAACP, which did not think protests would be effective and the violence it provoked. According to the documentary film, “Eyes on the Prize”, this nonviolent Black rights movement was effective in getting media attention, but it also provoked outrage and violence in people who opposed the Civil rights movement. This was the case when college students from the Northern states joined Black southerners in protesting because they saw there was injustice and inequality in the South. They marched along with people fighting for Black liberation, this then caused many White Southerners to become outraged, as well as police officials, who were predominantly White males.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was the idea behind a nonviolent approach to fight against segregation and inequality. In 1965, after the Bloody Sunday march, Martin Luther King, Jr., symbolized nonviolence as a leader in the movement; he joined in the march to the Mississippi state border in a nonviolent manner by gaining Gov. Wallace’s consent at the time. The march was successful in gaining attention, and also influenced politicians, like the current president L.B. Johnson who used words from the movement as support in some of his speeches. Other non-violent movements included the Freedom rides, which were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961, and The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which organized to get youth involved in the civil rights movement.

The limitation of the MLK nonviolent movement was that many Black activists felt that the nonviolent strategy was still not being as successful as they hoped, out of this instilled rage there was the formation of the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers used militant activism, by using new methods to show their visibility and anger towards White American society and their lack of care for minorities. The Black Panthers created fear in people because the media portrayed them to be affiliated with gangs and violence (Eyes on the Prize, 1990). Overall the Black civil rights movement was successful in achieving much triumph, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination illegal and punishable by law.

In the struggle for equality for Women’s rights, there were many strategies used to promote justice, some were nonviolent, influenced by literary works that criticized society for being male dominated as well as raising social consciousness. These writings then led to the creation and support for radical feminism. In order to create successful political action, many women set out to find explanations of female oppression in America. Works included, Kate Millet’s “Sexual Politics”, which protested against Freud’s sexist theories on sexuality and women, Betty Friedan’s, “The Feminine Mystique”, which referred to women who are trapped and conformed to traditional gender roles as the “the problem that has no name” as an impediment to freedom. Other works who supported the uproar of feminism were, Johnnie Tillmon’s “Welfare as a Women’s Issue” which argued that being a black woman on welfare was the worst thing to be in the country, she said it was practically like being invisible and less of a human as well as a trap for women. And The Redstockings Manifesto, which tried to create social awareness to the problems being faced by women in gender stereotyping by highlighting women’s second-class citizenship by bringing to the light that men were primary oppressors of women because they only use them for economic, sexual, and psychological pleasures.

Through frustration that was felt in women, they decided they were going to fight to be equal to men, feminist decided to create organizations like National Organization for Women (NOW), which would seek to end sexual discrimination, especially in the workplace, by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations as a way of civilized nonviolent mechanisms. Other organizations also rampaged to demand the legalization of birth control and abortions. Lesbians were largely excluded from the Gay activist alliance, so they went on to support the women’s freedom movement, which Friedan called the “lavender menace”. Some similarities in the women’s civil rights movement to that of the Asians, is that they both used literary works as a source of motivation and social awareness to combat social inequality. They were successful in obtaining the legalization of birth control in 1960 and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed in 1972. The limitations for this nonviolent strategy for women included the resistance of their own kind, many women resisted to this change and wanted to keep traditional values and remain invisible in society. Many angry and ignorant men also criticized feminist as being “frustrated and unattractive women” who were jealous of attractive ones.

To conclude, Asians, Black, Browns, Gays, and Women have historically been oppressed in similar ways and their ways of combat have been similar. Asians seemed to achieve success far faster than Browns and Blacks; It may have been due to their overall social behavior, since they were seen as the “quiet and obedient minority”. Fortunately, these groups who were persistent had a great degree of success, perhaps through their grandiose unification of large amounts of people nonviolently fighting for the same cause as we have seen in these five groups. Many are thankful for their struggle that has opened many opportunities for minorities in the present and it inspires the continuation of the struggle for social liberation.