密歇根新闻广播 民权法的先驱人物

 

Many Michiganders have heard of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. It's been in the news most recently because of a petition drive to expand the law's protections to members of the LGBTQ community. But while Elliott-Larsen is a well-known piece of legislation, few of us know much about the people who gave the law its name. One of those people was Daisy Elliott.

Jillian Reese is Curator of Exhibits at the Michigan History Center. After the 2018 midterm election, there was huge attention paid to the surge of women elected to political office. Reese said Elliott is the “foremother of this movement.”

In 1960, Michigan voters approved a constitutional convention. Daisy Elliott, an African-American woman from Detroit, was one of 11 women elected as delegates. They were called “The Con-Con Eleven.” The group was made up of five Democrats¹ and six Republicans. They were the first, and only, women ever to participate in a constitutional convention in the state.

“This was the first constitutional convention in Michigan history where all the delegates weren’t white men,” Reese said. “So it was a very important constitution because for the first time we were really going to hear a diversity of voices with regards to gender² and race.”

After serving as a delegate for the 1961-1962 constitutional convention, Elliott made a name for herself in Michigan politics. She took office as a state representative in 1963, and served for 18 years in the Michigan House.

“She saw during this time bussing, the Detroit riots, racial inequalities, sort of the fall out of those things,” Reese explained. “So, she really thought that it was very important for Michigan to have some sort of law on the books that would protect the civil rights of Michiganders.”

And so, Elliott began work on a state civil rights law. Reese said that Elliott wanted the bill to be bipartisan, which was not an easy task to accomplish. It took her almost 10 years to find a Republican representative, Mel Larsen, to sign on as a co-sponsor.

Many Republican politicians warned Larsen that signing on to the bill "would be political suicide.” To the contrary, Reese said, Larsen and Elliott's legacies³ lived on in the law that bears their name. The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, and marital⁴ status. More importantly, Reese said, the law outlines real consequences for discriminatory actions.

“It also gives folks a place to air their grievances⁵, so they can go report this, and also provides a framework for compensating⁶ victims of discrimination. Without some teeth to legislation for it to be enforced, it can really be almost like a gesture.”

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act was passed in 1976. Daisy Elliot passed away in 2015 at age 98.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

4 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

5 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。