Political policies in the decades after the civil war did not promote diversity and “the melting pot” in the United States of America. Most of the laws that were passed favored the white. Racial discrimination took root in all the policies that were put in place. The House of Representatives mostly dominated by the northerners and southerners whites were anti-immigrants. Ethnic amalgamation was limited. The northern victors attempted to end slavery but their efforts were limited by the fact that the former whites of the federate states still valued slavery and advocated for it. Mississippi Black Code (n.d) argues that the white Southerners wanted to ensure that they kept the Negro in his position in all angels of life. Schultz (2014) argues that the African Americans struggled to be allowed to vote. They demanded this as their right even to the extent of having mock elections to show that indeed they were capable of voting (p. 291-292).
Evidences of Unfair Policies
Immigration Restrictions
The House of Representatives enacted a law that barred immigrants to the USA. In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act, restricted Chinese laborers into the country. This was after the claim that the Chinese endangered proper order of the lives of the locals in the States. The law demanded that no Chinese laborer would be allowed into the country after 90days from the day the law was enacted. The Chinese nationals who were already in the country were subjected to strict scrutiny from the local administration.
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Harsh Statutes
The regulations on the foreigners in the USA were so hash. The Mississippi Black Code is an example of the cruel enactments. The servants were guided by strict rules on how they carried themselves within the country. For example, section 3 of the apprentice law stated that the master or mistress had the power to inflict corporal chastisement to a servant who errs. This was an unfair treatment since the non-white was not seen as equals, and the fact that no man is perfect. The colored servants were expected to follow the rules to the later. Severe punishments included heavy fines and imprisonment. Schultz (2014) state that the ex-confederates could not allow the ex-slaves economic autonomy and political rights, since they could not come in terms with the fact that they were losing the lives they had lived before reconstruction. The remedy was to have ex-slaves under them using the harsh rules.
Slavery in Disguise
The legislations passed promoted slavery silently. The Apprentice Law recorded in the Mississippi Black Code gave the masters and mistresses full control over their servants. The servant was not allowed to leave employment without consent from the employer no matter the circumstances. If such happened, then the servant would be jailed in that county, unless he or she decides to go back to work for the master. The non-natives were not given payment that equaled the work that they did. In the interview recorded in Black Testimony on the Aftermath of Enslavement (1866), the respondent says that the wages for a freedman was not more than five to eight dollars a month. These wages are way below what the non-natives need for their monthly expense. Those with families could not support them adequately with the wages. These are clear indications that slavery was still practiced in the USA even after the civil war.
The claim that political policies promoted diversity and ‘the melting pot” cannot be true. The political leaders from the north advocated against slavery, allowed the freedmen to vote as well as gave them full citizenship. These efforts bore little success since the white of the South insisted on having the Negros as slaves and protested against allowing them to vote. In the Black Testimony on the Aftermath of the Enslavement (1866), the respondent states that the freedmen were shown some kindness. This is seen as hypocritical as Schultz (2014) posits that, freedmen and freedwomen desperately sought education and land to purchase. The former masters did not want them to gain power since they would lose free labor.
Impacts of impartial Policies to my Workplace.
The discriminatory application of regulations in the US is evident in our office. The whites are given the sophisticated office work while and equally qualified colored employee is assigned little office errands (office messenger and storekeeping) to run. The employees are viewed as less competent in their job specializations even if they took their courses in USA universities.
