Although the South may never rise again, racism from as early as the 1940's is still affecting African Americans today. As if living through the segregation wasn't bad enough, many of these people are still dealing with the remnants of a racist society.
In Georgia, the first black police officers are now collecting pensions, but their benefits are significantly lower than white officers who worked for the same amount of time. The reason for this lies in an old Georgia law. Up until 1976, no black officers were allowed to join a state retirement fund. Therefore even though some of these officers may have been working for twenty years before the law was changed, they are unable to collect the benefits from those years of work.
As these officers retire, they are trying to get the Georgia Constitution amended to allow them to collect the pension from the years they worked before 1976, but the state's constitution doesn't allow the state to change a person's benefits after they have retired. A law has twice been passed through the Georgia House to amend the Constituiton, but it has stalled in the Senate.
You would think that amending the Constitution would be a fairly obvious way to help victims of discrimination. Many of the officers were subjected to abuse and humiliation, and it is a matter of justice that their pensions be payed in full for ALL of their years of work. I sincerely hope that future efforts to change the Georgia law will pass and retired black officers will get their much deserved reward.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It is disappointing that racism still plays a factor today in our laws. While these officers, black or white, deserve the same benefits as all officers, it makes me wonder whether law makers are denying blacks their pension rights on the basis of color or constitutional right.
It doesn't seem like that difficult of an act. Sure, we all learned how difficult it can be get laws and amendments passed, but something as obviously discriminatory as this seems like an easy vote. What rational person in today's world is going to disagree that these people deserve their pension as well?
I don't understand why the Senate would stall the amendment to give black police officers their pensions. There seems to be no negative effect from this amendment. If anything officers that were subjected to abuse and humiliation are going to gain extra financial help. I wouldn't jump to conclusion that this is racist but it does seem a little odd.
It is so awful to see that racism is still present in our society even though it seems that we have come so far. This law seems so discriminatory it should be easy to get a better one passed just based on the pregressivness of our country today. These men are equals and i think everyone will see that. It seems very shady that the senate would stall this amendment.
Post a Comment