NAMI SCC Website

40th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act

by Chad Witcher

This week we commemorate and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
United States Civil Rights Act.  We are grateful for the efforts of
so many people who sacrificed so much and struggled so long and so
hard to end racial discrimination and segregation.  Obviously, as in
many areas of society the law is not fully implemented and its goals
not fully realized, but through the heroic efforts of many civil
rights activists along with many persons of good will, our nation
officially recognizes in law that ALL persons are created equal and
that it is illegal to discriminate against anyone on the basis of
race, color, religion, or national origin (other protected classes
added later and in state laws).

I believe that it is good for us to realize that much of the progress
and gains which have been made in protecting the rights of persons
with mental disabilities are owed to the blood, sweat, and tears of
the persons who worked for Civil Rights and for the end to racial
discrimination.  The advent of Civil Rights protections brought about
avenues and structures for the protection of the rights of all
persons especially those disenfranchised by the structures of
political and economic power in our society. 

I believe we can celebrate the achievement of the heroic Civil Rights
leaders, advocates and workers and honor their sacrifice best by
ensuring that we do everything in our power to protect recipients of
mental health services from discrimination based on race, color,
religion, or national origin as well as all other protected classes
of people.  We must be particularly vigilant in our efforts to ensure
that the rights of racial and ethnic minorities and women are
protected since they are most often in a position to be
disenfranchised.  We must recognize that systems and power structures
will rarely practice overt discrimination and rarely admit that their
practices are discriminatory.  We must also be true to our mission of
protecting the rights of all persons with mental disabilities in a
manner that supports their full inclusion and participation and
integration into the equality of community where we support one
another in our mutual interdependence.

Thanks to all of you who do such excellent work to protect the Civil
Rights and all rights of recipients of mental health services.

Last Updated on 07/26/04   webmaster@namiscc.org

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations.  We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

Copyright 2004, 2005 National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Santa Cruz County, All Rights Reserved.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml  If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.