On Fri, 20 Aug 2010, Harry Penner wrote: > On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 1:30 AM, Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Fri, 20 Aug 2010, Harry Penner wrote: >> >>> Actually the racism-in-America thing is a particularly bad example of >>> what you're trying to assert. Assuming you're talking about the Civil >>> Rights Act, it was enacted at least in part to override southern Jim >>> Crow laws which codified discrimination. In other words, in at least >>> some states the law actually *prevented* employers, service providers, >>> restaurants, etc from treating blacks equally regardless of what >>> companies wanted to do, be it good or be it bad... didn't it? >> >> I don't think so. > > You don't think Jim Crow laws codified discrimination between whites and > blacks? Laws requiring separate water fountains, separate schools, > blacks and whites have to sit in different parts of the bus, etc? With > all due respect, what exactly do you think they did, then? I'm saying that I don't think Jim Crow laws prevented employers from hiring black people. I'm not sure if they prevented restaurant owners from serving black people. You can look it up and tell me about it. Mike