Byron Allen companions with Congress for invoice in search of to strengthen Civil Rights Act of 1866

Media mogul and billionaire, Byron Allen, the owner of theGrio parent company Entertainment Studios, is pushing the civil rights ball forward again, this time through a partnership with congressmen calling for the economic inclusion-oriented Civil Rights Act of 1866 to be strengthened.

Today, Democratic US Senators Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, Cory Booker from New Jersey and Ron Wyden of Oregon, along with representatives from the House of Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) And Mondaire Jones (D-NY) introduced the Economic Inclusion Civil Rights Act of 2021.

Byron Allen campaigned on Capitol Hill for these legislative efforts to strengthen the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Allen pressed for legislative support, and Senator Blumenthal followed up the call by supporting the legislation.

The new law is designed to amend and strengthen section 1981 of the nation’s oldest federal civil rights law, enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This is the specific civil rights law that served as the basis for Allen’s litigation before the US Supreme Court in 2020.

Byron Allen, Founder / Chairman / CEO of Entertainment Studios, appears before the United States Supreme Court on November 13, 2019 in Washington, DC for racial discrimination against Comcast. (Photo by Larry French / Getty Images for Entertainment Studios)

Due to the current law requiring 100 percent proof of racism, the Supreme Court is demanding a higher evidence threshold to enforce the protection of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. However, if the proposed change to the law is passed, it would require those seeking protection to achieve a lower level of evidence. This would subsequently overturn the Supreme Court ruling in Allen’s 2020 case and attack the deceased judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s call to action.

The bill would also overturn the General Building Contractors v Pennsylvania court ruling that made Section 1981 inapplicable except for willful, willful discrimination. In rejecting that decision, Justice Thurgood Marshall complained that the court “turned a blind eye to reality”. And he was right. So-called disparate impact suits, which will be restored with this draft law, are essential in order to uncover both hidden and difficult to prove deliberate and unconscious discrimination and to remove artificial and arbitrary barriers to equal opportunities.

Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. (Photo: ShareAmerica.gov)

The measure also aims to prohibit both compulsory arbitration and the waiver of class actions for claims under Section 1981. The Supreme Court has stated that “unless otherwise ordered by Congress” either instrument can be used to restrict access to justice.

“Section 1981, the nation’s first civil rights law, was enacted 155 years ago and sought to make the American economy fair for blacks after the Civil War,” Senator Booker said in a statement to theGrio. “Unfortunately, over the years the Supreme Court has undermined this critical protection. The Civil Rights and Economic Inclusion Act of 2021 would help reverse these decisions and address the stark inequalities in our nation’s economy and give black Americans and other minorities greater opportunities. “

Looking back on Dr. King and others in the 1950s and 1960s, this could give Congressional lawmakers an opportunity to judge the current split in the racially charged political landscape. Adopting these efforts could serve to strengthen the protection of civil rights.

The current reality that senators and congressmen are trying to face is fraught with attacks on suffrage laws, in which states enact restrictive electoral laws and initiate anti-protest measures. At the same time, identity is under siege as LGBTQ + rights as well as issues of racial justice and equality are called into question.

As Byron Allen takes up the legal battle for the extension of civil rights in the United States, he continues to cite his conversations with the deceased Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the woman he calls “the true Queen of America”.

“She said to me, ‘Byron’ as blacks in America we had four major challenges: number one – end slavery, number two – end Jim Crow, number three – achieve civil rights.” And then she choked and said, ‘And number four – the real reason you killed my Martin – achieve economic integration.’ ”

Coretta Scott King (Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

According to Allen, Scott King is writing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Stanford University, which highlighted the economic problems that were a dual reality in America based on race as the primary reason for his assassination. For this reason, Allen attaches great importance to economic justice.

“This generation will deal with the fourth and final chapter, real economic inclusion,” said Allen theGrio in an exclusive interview. “Today, after more than 400 years, we are on the verge of real economic inclusion. And we will finally reach the mountain top. “

Allen has recognized in the past that those talks with the civil rights icon about building an America through education and economic integration had led him to take action that emphasized the economic framework for minority-owned businesses.

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