NPR: How Do You Protect--and Define--Civil Rights?

How Do You Protect--and Define--Civil Rights?

Farai Chideya Yesterday we covered the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

We also spoke with law professor Sherilyn Ifill about the embattled Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

In essence, the the justice department's civil rights division has been accused of political hirings. And Wan Kim, the assistant attorney general in charge of the division, resigned late last week.

The Civil Rights Division has been charged with upholding voting rights and other issues of racial justice ... and accused of letting that banner fall.

So: how do citizens concerned about voting rights make themselves heard? Do you think you should have a voice in the federal perspective on Civil Rights? And what does it even mean to champion civil rights in this day and age?

Farai Chideya

11:20 AM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Civil Rights is pretty much rights given to someone by law. It is different from human rights because human rights are inalienable rights we immediately get as soon as we come out of the womb no matter who we are. in this case, the Federal gov't had to grant these rights to circumvent state laws that actually took away the human rights of many citizens.

i never dug the idea that our gov't grants rights. they can grant privileges but not rights. i recall an incident that happened in the Navy, when a fellow sailor punched the lights out of another sailor for calling him the "N" word. when this sailor went to Captain's Mast (the Navy's form of Non Judicial Punishment), he tells the Captain that he took an oath to uphold the constitution against enemies foreign and domestic and he was let go . i was happy for that verdict and it taught me a valuable lesson. there is a difference between human rights and civil rights

Sent by Dan Tres Omi | 12:18 PM ET | 09-03-2007

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