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Civil Rights and Diversity

Compliance, Awareness and Advocacy in the Civil Rights


Movement
Brian Longstreet, Carol Hesprich , Donna Mayhew, Rebecca Ralph,
and Renda Driscoll,
CUR/518
February 27th 2015
Professor Deborah Hatfield

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U.S. civil rights provide a necessary foundation for the quality of life of Americans.
Beyond the Bill of Rights and other foundational laws in U.S. history, civil rights focus on the
ethical treatment of all citizens through the efficient administration of compliance, awareness,
and advocacy. Compliance commonly refers to the legal adherence to laws and policies.
Awareness is essential to ensuring an ongoing focus on potential civil rights abuses and possible
responses to those issues. Advocacy is the enabling of people to stand against civil rights abuses
and act as a change agent for better laws.
According to The Synonym Finder by J.I Rodale, (1978) Compliance means:
Acquiescence, yielding, abidance, assent, conformity, obedience, observance, and
responsiveness (pg.202). Looking at the meaning of compliance it is clear that civil rights require
conduct that exemplifies this standards and a system that will enforce them. The goal of civil
rights compliance is respect and compassion for all people. For example, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Civil Rights Division (CRD) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
promote and ensure that individuals have equal access and opportunity to participate in health
care and human services programs. The CRD enforces Federal laws and regulations that prohibit
discrimination, on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age in certain
circumstances, sex and religion for programs receiving finances from HHS. CRD also enforces a
Federal law and regulation that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in health care
and social service programs of state and local governments (2015).
The OCF assists mankind in the following:
1. Investigate complaints filed by individuals alleging that they, or someone else, has been
discriminated against.

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2. Conduct compliance reviews of covered entities that OCR beliefs may not be in
compliance with the law.
3. Provide technical assistance to covered entities to help them understand how they can
voluntarily comply with the law.
4. Conduct nationwide outreach to help individuals and covered entities understand rights
and obligations under the laws that OCR enforces.
Compliance is being responsive to conformity and requiring all to yield and obediently
observe the civil rights of others. The Civil Rights movement, for example, brought attention to
the mistreatment of blacks in America.
According to Dictionary.com, awareness is defined as the state or condition of being
aware; having knowledge; consciousness. During the 1950s and 60s, the United States was
made aware of the discrimination towards African Americans, women, and other people of color.
As a result, protests were organized to bring awareness to America. This activity also sparked
awareness around the world.
Non-government organizations developed Human Rights Education (HRE) programs to
educate and bring awareness of human rights violations. Anja Mihr, a Senior Fellow at the
European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratization in Venice, Italy,
mentioned such programs. He defined Human Rights Education (HRE) as a set of educational
and pedagogical learning methods to inform people of and to train them in their human rights
(177). Implementing these teaching methods will help other countries become fully aware of
political discriminations and violations of fundamental human rights. As these programs
emerged during and after the Cold War, many people in the Soviet Union were unaware of the

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social and political abuses of human rights. However, post-Cold War people became aware of
their rights being abused and violated through human rights education.
Some may argue that advocacy and awareness are the same. It is better stated that with
awareness comes advocacy. In terms of defining advocacy, Merriam-Webster.com says that
advocacy is the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal: the act or process of
advocating something. Sharon L. Glover stated an example of this distinction in an article for
BC Forest Professional: Many people get advocacy and awareness building mixed up, perhaps
because some of the activities are similar; however, the two are quite different.
Advocacy is the support for a cause or policy such as good forest policies, inclusion of
Native American peoples in decision-making, or protection of a particular species. Through good
forest policies, for example, we build awareness of the profession of forestry and the roles of
forest professionals (Glover, 2011). It is important to note the skills associated with advocacy
help foster critical thinking and provide opportunities for civic voice against larger cultural
trends (Zompetti, 2006). Advocacy not only takes skill, but also takes time. Advocacy is a
journey, not a day trip; the time range from concept to celebration will generally take much
longer than you think (Dowd & Curva, 2008). Consider these examples of advocacy: The 13th
Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery by making it illegal which, consequently,
ended the Civil War. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of
sex, as well as race in the hiring, promoting, and firing of individuals. Today, we act in
compliance with these laws to ensure the rights of individual and groups of citizens of the United
States. In the United States, there are famous advocates for civil rights such as President
Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington, who advocated for the emancipation of slaves in

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the 19th century. Martin Luther King, Jr., another advocate, was instrumental in ending
segregation and gaining equal and fair employment practices in the U.S during the 20th century.
Compliance, awareness, and advocacy played a crucial role in the Civil Rights movement
in America. It showed the open violation of fundamental human rights. The Civil Rights
movement forced local, state, and federal government as well as non-governmental organizations
and businesses to comply with laws, rules, and regulations that were declared but previously not
enforced. Through advocates like President Abraham Lincoln, Booker T. Washington and Martin
Luther King, Jr., America became aware of the plight of those that suffer injustice and human
rights violation.

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References
Advocacy. In Merriam-Webster.com.Retrieved February, 27, 2015, from
http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/advocacy
Civil Rights and Compliance (2015). U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved
on February 25, 2015 from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights.
Dowd, K. J., & Curva, F. (2008). Advocacy simplified. Strategies, 21(6), 35-36. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/214559306?accountid=458
Glover, S.L. (2011) Advocacy and Awareness Building. CEOs Report BC Forest Professional
November-December 2011 issue. Retrieved from
http://www.abcfp.ca/publications_forms/BCFORmagazine/documents/BCFORPRO2011-6_AllArticles/BCFORPRO-2011-6_Glover.pdf
Mihr, Anja (2009). Global Human Rights Awareness, Education and Democratization, Journal
on Human Rights, Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Rodale, J. I. (1978). The Synonym Finder. New York: Warner Books.
Zompetti, J. P. (2006). The role of advocacy in civil society. Argumentation, 20(2), 167-183.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10503-006-9002-2

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