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The act also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where anyone with a discrimination complaint can go to the commissioner and the EEOC will take the issue to court. This was established for common individuals with lack of support or lack of income, which was an important civil right at the time. It is also illegal to refuse referral to another company due to race, sex or religion. The law forbids discrimination by any program that receives money from the federal government. The government may cut off financing for a program that does not end discriminatory practices or policies. Who was involved in instituting this act? The president at the time, John F. Kennedy, would work with Martin Luther King Jr. as well as other leaders in the African American community to bring this issue to the Senate in 1963. A year later after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson continued to support it. The law was passed after a 75-day filibuster-one of the longest in Senate history. Out of this civil rights act came the phrase equal opportunity employment. In the publics eye this means equal consideration for employment regardless of an individuals race, color, religion, sex or national origin. These are the guidelines set up by the government for all businesses to follow. If that is true, then why is it that businesses are using the phrase equal opportunity employer as a tool in advertising to potential employees? I can recall a time when my stepfather, Alex Gabrera, placed an ad for another outside salesperson to add to his team of three. The ad did not have much of a description of what the job initialed but in the lower right hand corner in bold was EOE. When I asked why that was so prominent the only reason Alex could come up with was that he needed the best man for the job. Just by putting three little letters in the corner of his ad, he gave over a million readers the impression that he was a fair, impartial man whom will give each and everyone a chance to go to work for him. So how can companies use this civil rights act as a ploy to get more attention to their ads and receive a better selection of applicants? I interviewed an owner and proprietor of a vintage guitar company, Darrell Gabbs. It was established right away that he does not consider himself an equal opportunity employer. Darrell also had a few things to say about equal opportunity. “I don’t care anything about color, age or religion, I only hire the best man [male] for the job. Most of the time if I have given an interview over the phone I know if he is a qualified applicant or not. It just doesn’t matter how old or what color he is. But as far as women are concerned they should stay at home and tend to the children.” Then I told him that I was writing a paper on the civil rights act passed in 1964, he continued with. “That’s the cause of all the children going crazy and shootin’ people. Equal opportunity should be for men and men only, we wouldn’t have things like that going on if the women stayed at home and let you and I [men] support the family.” In the same breath he goes on to say that choosing a musician is the same way. “Music is the only field that revolves around the qualified person. I don’t give a f**k what someone looks like, smells like, or who they pray to, if you can’t play the part your not invited back.” The few times I have talked to Darrell he has been much the same way, so his remarks about women mean little to me. Equal opportunity does not provide much of an opportunity for the nation’s people. In return it takes away from companies, of any size, from progressing. The civil rights act of 1964 has many useful items covered such as desegregation of schools and a person’s freedom to seek employment or use of public places. All of these things are understood in this new generation. As narrow minded as Darrell sounds he is proof that a business owner is free to choose any one he wants working under him, without any pressure from the equal employment commission on fairness. Bibliography: Word Count: 806
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