Capitol Journal - Civil Rights Restoration Act
Capitol Journal - Civil Rights Restoration Act
(01:00:00) WETA logo, followed by Corporation for Public Broadcasting logo (01:00:13) Opens to two men giving different perspectives on the 1985 Civil Rights Restoration Act, one of them CLARENCE PENDLETON Chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, shot changes to Capitol Journal host HODDING CARTER who introduces show and asks question what is civil rights in the 1980s (01:00:52) Capitol Journal introductory credits and animation, Carter in studio further introduces the show summarizing recent federal legislation and bringing up the issue of reverse discrimination, he segues to a segment on Dillon County South Carolina (01:02:21) Various shots of a black church, congregation, singing gospel choir, minister at pulpit quickly contrasted with shots of people leaving an all white church, this followed by shots of school which both blacks and white attend - kids get off a bus waving to the camera, kids on the playground wave to camera, interview with church minister on placing students in classes based on tested ability level interspliced with more shots of black church, interview with Dillon school district superintendent who says the school is color blind (01:04:20) Quick shots of the town of Dillon, superintendent walks into a school, footage of a classroom in Lake View, South Carolina where an almost all black class of grammar school children are learning division with a white woman teacher - host Carter voices over that the racial make up on the class is the result of ability testing, black minister explains why these classes are bad for the students (01:05:19) Interview with superintendent, shots of Lakeview grammar school class this time primarily white, shots of documents on which a federal investigation was conducted with the decision to change the segregated schooling in this district, shots of justice department building and letters deciding to put off any changes (01:06:33) School superintendent stands outside of school while kids file in in the morning, superintendent gets some of the students to reluctantly shake hands with him - he greets them all, footage of classroom and halls where racially mixed groups of students interact, shot of Lake View advanced class which is all white students, interview with Lake View superintendent who defends his policy of ability placement - while he talks images of rural slums shown, more images of Lake View classes (01:09:43) Shots of streets of Dillon, interview with local white woman, interview with minister who says black students to need to let people know "you want to be somebody" (01:10:41) Back to tv studio and Carter, Carter segues to a discussion of the Civil Rights Restoration Act (01:11:32) Washington Post Reporter JUAN WILLIAMS stands outside the U.S. Supreme court and explains Grove City Case, interview with Representative DON EDWARDS, Representative CLAUDINE SCHNEIDER, Representative PAT SCHROEDER who explain significance of Civil Rights Restoration Act, interview with Clarence Pendleton (01:14:35) Interview with CLARENCE THOMAS head of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commision,who says the cut off of federal funding because of discrimination has almost never been used, footage of meetings of the League of Women Voters and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (01:16:17) Back in the studio Williams and Carter sit and discuss the Restoration Act's road to passage and the attitudes of the Act's opponents (01:18:20) Carter segues to an interview he conducted with Senators PAUL SIMON and ORRIN HATCH - Hatch stresses the dangers of reverse discrimination and federal regulation of state institutions, Simon stresses the need to ensure the continuation of civil rights, especially after the Grove City case, with the passage of the Civil Rights Restitution Act (01:26:24) Carter closes out the show (01:26:44) Credits role, gospel track played, shots of the various classes in Lake View South Carolina (01:27:33) PBS funding credits