- The Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1988 was passed
- William Bennett, the drug czar
- attacks against liberal intellectuals that advocated tolerance/legalization of drug use
- the Bush administration tried to make "black" scholarships a form of "reverse discrimination."
- AIDs, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, epidemic hit in 1981
- originally regarded as a gay/homosexual disease
- 1986, the National Black Gay and Lesbian Conference, address and devise solutions to the prejudice and problems faced by black gays and lesbians-racial and sexual minorities
- "Magic" Johnson was infected
- Arthur Ashe, a gifted professional tennis player, got AIDs from surgery
- VP. Quayle: "cultivate higher moral standards and practice abstinence."
- "Magic" resigned from the National Commission on AIDs, "lip service and photo opportunities."
- John Lewis of Georgia, came out for gay civil rights
- Rap reflected alienation
- Afrocentrism: dark skin > more creative, implicitly racist?,
- Rodney King was beaten, the cops were found "not guilty"
- $500 million worth of damage was caused by rioting
- New Jersey was racial profiling
- Jasper, TX: two whites dragged a black man to death for a mile
- Giuliani failed to condemn police brutality
- Major black sports figures: Michael Jordan, Sammy Sosa (MVP), Tiger Woods, major representative for Nike
- 1983, first black astronaut
- Clinton had a lot of black appointments in his cabinet
- McKinney of Georgia and Mel Watt of North Carolina, did not lose their seats
- the Black Caucus questioned Clinton's free trade policies
- Clinton took blacks off "welfare" and put them on "workfare"
- Lee Brown became the mayor of Houston, Texas
- Al Sharpton led protests against police brutality
- the Charlotte public schools were resegregated
- the suburban schools have internet, the urban schools don't have basketball nets!
- 30% more blacks graduated college in 1996 than in 1992
- anti-affirmative action cases were won at University of Texas and at University of Washington
- blacks were not attending 4-yr. public universities-either 2yr. colleges or historically black colleges
- blacks criticized Truman for appointing a secretary of state from racist South Carolina
- Why did the US fight in Vietnam, and then not bring equality for blacks?
- blacks were interested in self-government movement in West Africa
- the war funds could have been spent improving economic or civil rights at home
- MLK criticized Vietnam: Thou shall not kill!
- a greater percentage of blacks were drafted for Vietnam
- blacks created a sit-in at the South African embassy in Washington to protest the racial policies of the Republic of South Africa
Greater democracy in South Africa
- F.W. de Klerk became president of S. Africa
- Nelson Mandela was released, head of the black liberation movement
- didn't denounce human right's violations in Cuba
- Bush vowed to defend Saudia Arabia and its oil reserves
- 1991, Congress approved military force against Iraq
- 500,000 troops went to the Middle East
- 1957 to 1986, corrupt rule in Haiti
- the National Guard sent Haitians back to their home country
- California, New York, Florida, and Texas got many Spanish speaking immigrants
- politicians began tapping into racism, blacks vs. hispanics
- Bill Clinton created an advisory board of 2 blacks, one Asian, 1 Hispanic, and 3 European Americans to engage in a national dialogue
- Native Americans were furious they were not included on the board
- democratic Nigeria and Zaire collapsed
- US discussions with Uganda in the United Nations