[RedBean]

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That being said, the Griggs case is another example of why the Civil Rights Act is a joke.

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You may think the Civil Rights Act is a joke, due to some extreme examples in lawsuits, and the natural bureacracy of government enforcement, but let me relate to you a little different perspective:

Shortly after getting married, and a few years before I came into existence, my parents weren't able to go into the majority of restuarants where I grew up. When they went on their honeymoon, they slept in the car because the four hotels at their destination didn't accept coloreds. All throughout their early lives, they couldn't use the same restrooms, and they couldn't drink from the same fountains as whites. They even had to sit in the back pews at church, for christs sake. In their parish, coloreds weren't allowed to recieve communion.

They had to sit in the back of the bus, if they were lucky enough to be allowed on. In most areas, they had to wait in the colored bus stop, seperate from the white one.

They couldn't go to the three local movies theaters within minutes of our home, instead having to drive three hours to visit one that allowed blacks inside.

They were often denied the right to vote, as well as being denied access to city public services and buildings, police protection, and basic services that white taxpayers were afforded, due simply because they were colored.

Mind you, they paid the same taxes as their white counterparts, but they didn't reap any of the same benefits, because of their color.

My father was once turned away from jury duty because when he showed up they realized they made a mistake and since he was colored he wasn't welcome on that day to participate in government.

He made his early living selling seafood from his small boat on the docks, and he had to pay the harbor master a 'colored tax', just as all the black seaman, which cut about 50% into his profits, and it was a tax the white folks didn't have to pay, and it allowed them to sell the same products for less, crippling his ability to make it in the business...simply because of his color.

"white only" and "no colored" were a literal sign of the times, present on practically every street corner, every business, and in every job advertisement.

And then one day, they passed a law, the Civil Rights Act, and all that changed.

Don't get me wrong, there was still some hefty racism behind closed doors, and whispers under the white hoods....but that's just it....it wasn't the norm, and it wasn't openly flaunted any longer. No longer allowed to flourish, it slowly but steadily began to wilt away with each passing generation.

No more was it openly blatant, no more was it thrown into your face every step you took. No more was it forced down your throat by the very same public officials whose salaries you help pay.

It opened alot of people's eyes, and help change alot of people's perceptions and subsequent treatment.

We may have gotten there eventually, but it would have taken much, much longer, and the Civil Rights Act certainly help speed it along.

So while it may be a joke to you, I view it as equality of opportunity for me.

And that's all I ask for.

And as a sidenote, my parents now own three of those very same restuarants he was once not allowed to patronize, and like he is fond of saying "Once all things become equal, they sure do turn out different."