What Are Civil Rights?
First of all, let’s look at the definition of civil rights from Cornell University Law School:
A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Various jurisdictions have enacted statutes to prevent discrimination based on a person's race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual orientation.
So let’s move on to human rights as defined by the United Nations:
The Convention [on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities] follows decades of work by the United Nations to change attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It takes to a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as "objects" of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as "subjects" with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society.
The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced.
Key phrases here include “adaptations.” If we are to move forward, it seems that we may have to come to some consensus on what those are, if any. It may be unrealistic to assume that everyone who has an extra chromosome can be fully included without some type of “adaptation” to existing rules. No, I’m not advocating for special treatment or a lack of rules, I’m just saying we need to accommodate everyone within our community if we are to succeed at bringing about change.
We’ve obviously come to a cross-road as far as training goes. I say, let’s agree to disagree, respectfully, and move on to the next phase. What is the next phase? In my opinion, it has to be the ‘bigger picture.’ If we concentrate on the end game, and make the most of this moment, our next step is toward some type of civil/human rights legislation.
The civil rights leaders of the sixties didn’t always agree. The non-violence and Black power movements had different strategies toward similar goals.
What is relevant to our current struggle is that both movements began with and were bolstered by the grassroots activities of seemingly unconnected individuals.
It is also true that grassroots activism was crucial in activating civil rights campaigns, in sustaining momentum for the movement at critical periods, and, during the late 1960s, in translating legal gains into visible jobs, real school desegregation, police protection, improved public services, and local political power. But grassroots activism was not enough. African Americans needed the access to national political influence and media attention that Martin Luther King Jr. brought. It was King’s campaigns at Birmingham and Selma that led to the legislative victories of 1964 and 1965 that destroyed segregation.
The first step, which we all seem to agree on, is an independent investigation of the Saylor case. After that, or while we are pushing for that, since it seems that multiple efforts are under way in that direction, what can we do?
Is it time to get radical? Is it time to stage boycotts? Is it time to stage sit-ins? Marches?
Did you see what happened to community living activists on Monday?
Disability Advocates Arrested Outside White House
Perhaps all the talking, writing, tweeting, emailing and blogging has not been noticed. Perhaps we need to step it up a notch. I am not claiming to have all the answers. I guess I’m just frustrated and think maybe we need to try something different.
I welcome all comments!