The decade of the 1980's was a time of erosion of governmental and societal commitment to equal rights under the law for all persons. In 1985, the Justice Department attempted to persuade fifty-one cities and counties to reexamine consent decrees in employment discrimination cases, an exercise which would have effectively dismantled these voluntary agreements. In 1985 and 1986, the Executive branch attempted unsuccessfully to stop the federal government's program of affirmative action in contracting. Rising racial violence also reflects in part the anxiety of workers who fear for their jobs or of displaced workers who resent those whom they believe to be their supplanters. Many display indifference to the victims of past and ongoing discrimination.
Racism lives on as a sign of the sin which controls many decisions, personal and corporate.
Sexism is tolerated or even urged as God's will. The American Baptist Churches, USA, in recognition of our society's shameful history of discrimination against women and minorities, believes that affirmative action is a necessary corrective for the past. The achievement of the dream of a nondiscriminatory society requires continuous, vigorous action. The Supreme Court's rulings on employee rights in its 1988-89 term triggered protests and condemnation from religious, labor and civil rights groups. However, the Administration announced that these were simply technical corrections to present law and did not require a legislative corrective.