Only through social struggles can civil rights be obtained

Editor,

America's civil rights history is an interesting story that most people don't fully understand. The way many groups have achieved social and political rights in this country comes from a combination of judicial activism, a long history of legislation (constitutional and unconstitutional), grassroots activism, social upheaval and a mixture of good and bad court decisions. In other words, American civil rights can only be obtained through social struggles and making mistakes mainly because of the way our government was established.

We have an extremely vague governing document called the Constitution that always makes the topic of individual rights interesting. This is probably true, not only for civil rights issues, but every political issue and conflict today. Arguably, our system of government needs extremists on both sides as well as a few moderates in order to get things accomplished.

Over the years, the United States' system of three branches, which provides checks and balances to each other to prevent one from asserting too much power, has proven to be a slow process but also an effective one. In a way, even though our system of government is supposed to prevent against majority rule, the group that stirs up the most passion in the people seems to win out in the end. Of course, there are also matters of influence and money that affect certain political outcomes, but these factors don't seem to have as much influence on civil rights issues.

Ultimately, it seems like all we need to do is fight for what we believe no matter what it is (while remembering to respect the views of others) and patiently wait as history inevitably takes us through rough and smooth patches that will hopefully lead us to the result that we desire. I realize that this is probably a gross generalization of American politics and it also may seem quite passive. Yet I also think that it is a useful perspective in which to view American civil rights, and, hopefully, it will also shed some light on the function and importance of social unrest and activism in the United States.

Deborah Baker

UNM alumna