Racism In Racism

There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.

In June 1892 Homer A. Plessy bought a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad and sat in the car designated for whites only. Plessy was of mixed African and European ancestry, and he looked white. Because the Citizens Committee wanted to challenge the segregation law in court, it alerted railroad officials that Plessy would be sitting in the whites only car, even though he was partly of African descent. Plessy was arrested and brought to court for arraignment before Judge John H. Ferguson of the U.S. District Court in Louisiana. Plessy then attempted to halt the trial by suing Ferguson on the grounds that the segregation law was unconstitutional.

In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitution of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. This case examined one key issue, was it constitutional to make black people sit in separate cars from white people? In 1890, Homer Plessy broke the law in Louisiana, by sitting in the white people car and he was 1/8 black and 7/8 white. The state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required railway companies to have "separate but equal." There was punishment for not following the law which if a person would sit in the wrong car they had to pay $25 fine or go to jail for 20 days. Plessy was asked to move, but he refused and was arrested. When he was sent to jail he argued that Separated car acts violated the 14th amendment. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was

In 1892, Homer Plessy sought a seat in a “white” train car. Plessy was only 1/8 black, and appeared to be a Caucasian man. Even after being belittled and threatened, Plessy refused to transfer to a “colored” car. Violating the Separate Car Act, Plessy was arrested. He stated that this act violated his 13th and 14th amendment constitutional rights. His statements entailed that the act stripped away his 13th amendment right opposing slavery and his 14th amendment right for equal protection under the law. These arguments were revoked twice in lower courts until he decided he would take his plea to the Louisiana Supreme Court. (pbs.org)

In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally legal to segregate African Americans with their white counterparts. In the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson an African American man in Louisiana named Homer Plessy refused to follow the mandated Jim Crow laws which enforced that African Americans have to sit in a designated area when riding on a train. Plessy argued that his fourteenth amendment right was violated equal-protection clause, which “prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person within their jurisdictions”(Duignan, 2016). However, when Plessy’s case moved to the Supreme Court they ruled“ the object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to create "absolute equality of the two races before the law," such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights (e.g., voting and serving on juries), not "social rights" (e.g., sitting in a railway car one chooses) (McBride, n.d. ). As a result, Plessy v. Ferguson

The next critical Supreme Court ruling on the issue of civil rights was in 1892 with the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Homer Adolph Plessy was a shoemaker from the state of Louisiana. Although Plessy was seven eighths white and only one eighth black. According to the law in Louisiana, he was still required to use the facilities designated as "colored". In an attempt to challenge the law, Plessy, with the support of civil rights activists, bought a ticket for the first class coach on the East Louisiana Rail Road. Plessy boarded and sat down in the first class coach. Just after the train departed the station the conductor confronted Plessy. The conductor asked him if he was black, Plessy told him he was and that he refused to leave the coach. The train was stopped; Plessy was arrested and formally charged at the fifth street police station.

Plessey boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad that was designated by whites for use by white patrons only. Although Plessey was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When Plessey refused to leave the white car and move to the colored car, he was arrested and jailed. The Court rejected Plessey's arguments based on the Thirteenth Amendment, seeing no way in which the Louisiana statute violated it. In addition, the majority of the Court rejected the view that the Louisiana law implied any inferiority of blacks, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Instead, it contended that the law separated the two races as a matter of public policy.

Racism has been a part of our country since the early ages. Historically, racism and equality have been central issues that have divided our country. Many actions from the past such as the decision in the Plessy versus Ferguson case, and present day actions like The Mississippi school system case have been the ongoing battle in today 's society. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation that is now considered racist in the Plessy versus Ferguson case.

In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;

This inequality and unnecessary act called racism within many school systems can be dated back to 1896 to the Plessy V. Ferguson case which resulted in “separate facilities for education” and an “equal education” (Campbell). This case is what provided us with the term “separate but equal”, this meant that white and black children had to attend separate schools but would supposedly get an equal education. Another case addressing racism in education is the Cumming V. Richmond case in 1899. This case involved three black families who petitioned the court to allow their children to finish their high school education at a white high school, due to the closing of the local black high school which would integrate African Americans and whites under one facility (Campbell). Racial segregation and its unfairness even continued into the 1950’s with the Sweatt V. Painter case involving an African American, Homas Sweatt, who was being denied access to the University of Texas Law School because he was black (Campbell). All of this unfair treatment of separate but equal education continued until 1954 when one of the most popular and familiar cases to all of us occurred, “Brown V. Board of Education”. In this case a young girl from Kansas had to walk 21 blocks to the closet black only school when a

Racism is a subject that we have a hard time fully grasping as a concept. Mr. Bouje gives his opinions on how millennial view racism, and he backs it up with various surveys allowing him to come to his conclusion. While I agree with nearly every claim that the writer makes, I believe the issue is true for every age demographic, not just millennials. Racism is a problem that has been hard to solve because of misunderstanding on the concept. I feel that grouping the misunderstanding of racism to millennials is ignorant due to how many Americans fall into that similar category of misunderstanding racism.

Six in 10 Americans (61%) said racism against blacks is widespread in the United States in a Gallup poll last August -- up from just 51% at the beginning of President Barack Obama's first term in 2009. But that includes a broad racial split: 82% of blacks vs. just 56% of whites” is a quote from CNN. Why do people think this is ok? ”Since the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Trump has been curiously deferential to racists. First he deflected blame from them, arguing that there was bigotry “on many sides.” Then he said “very fine people” had gathered with neo-Nazis to protest the city’s removal of a Confederate statue. Then, at a rally in Phoenix last week, he said protesters who sought to remove such statues were “trying to take away our culture”, From

Racism has been around for ages. Racism can be defined as an individual believing that a certain race is better than others. The white race has always been seen as the superior race. Whites have had more privileges and opportunities than people of color.   The United States, which is known as a diverse country, racism is common. Having a history of slavery, a history of different protest from people of color, the United States is aware that racism exist and it’s grown to accept it. Racism is seen in schools, government organizations, laws, and law enforcement. People of color are aware of racism and might see it as a norm. However, there some time where people of color can take it anymore and decided to do something to stop the racism.  The existence of racism within the field of police enforcement has always been a problem for African Americans and the people of color.  Events, such as the Rodney King case and other cases similar cases  has shown just how law enforcement deals with the issue of race. These events also show that the individuals who commit these crimes go unpunished.

From the early 1600’s to the late 1850’s, racism remained a founding principle throughout American progress. White Americans validated their beliefs that both the native peoples and blacks were savages, who were not worthy of receiving the same treatment shared amongst whites. In the eyes of Americans, native and black inferiority justified white exploitation of the subordinate race to develop the United States during its formative years. Therefore, white Americans leveraged their race to achieve progress by forcing the natives towards assimilation, seizing their lands, and capitalizing on slave labor.

As a white girl growing up in State College, Pennsylvania, I had the convenience of not thinking about race very often, if ever. As naïve as I was, I believed that my experience in this small college town was the American experience. That is to say that I believed all Americans had the same opportunities to grow and learn that I did. When I became aware of the divisive issue that is racism, I was hit with the harsh reality that many of my opportunities are available to me simply because of the color of my skin, and that those same opportunities are withheld from others due to the color of theirs. Racism is a complex issue, growing and changing as humans do. To me, racism is a variety of harmful thought processes, actions and behaviors that can be shown in many ways.