The Color Blind Constitution Summary

The case “Plessy v. Ferguson” was a test of a Louisiana law’s constitutionality. It took 50 years to realize it, but the constitutionally and morally right way was to end segregation. This case was never about Plessy not being able to ride on a white only car on a train headed to Covington, Louisiana. It was about a group of black citizens trying to stop segregation from ever

Racism is a word that sparks a nerve in many individuals today. As hard as it is to believe, racism is still a big factor in what we as a society know as a unified America. Although, it is not as obvious as it was in the past, it still goes on, just in ways that are less noticeable. We ask the question, is the emphasis on a color-blind society an answer to racism. Ward Connerly claims it is a way to stop the segregation and make America a whole as it has been striving to be for the longest. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva believes color-blind racism is the new racial ideology and still brings about racial inequality. As the solution to the question progresses, we ask ourselves, will a

Harlan thus courageously argues that the “separate but equal” doctrine not only violates the fundamental principles of democracy, namely equality and freedom, but also contravenes the U.S.

Throughout America’s history the franchise has been withheld from different groups. This has been possible due to weakly written laws that do not provide adequate protections. In 1965 PL 89-110 was passed, this law, commonly known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, finally provided real protections for minorities living in southern states. In recent years the language of the law was modified within the Supreme Court to take away the law’s primary power. In the following mock Congressional testimony we will go back to 1848, 13 years before the American Civil War, and provide evidence of why a law like PL 89-110 is necessary and commendable.

The struggle for equality has existed throughout history. The color of a person’s skin seems to depict everything about them. Not only was this an issue in earlier times, but the present as well. The battle to overcome inequity was made significantly more troublesome in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896.

An understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment begins not in Congress, but in the history leading up to the Civil War. The first crucial story in understanding the Fourteenth Amendment is the striking changes in the law of race relations that took place in the North - especially in Bingham’s home state of Ohio - in the dozen or so years before the Civil War began. The second story is about the South, and the legal repression and brutal racial violence that took place there immediately after the Civil War ended (Finkelman, 2003).

From the moment Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, the United States of America established itself as a nation built upon the foundation of equality. In the legendary document, Jefferson proclaimed, “all men... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (Declaration).” Contradictorily, when the separatists fled England for an auspicious future in North America, their treatment of the Native American and Spanish occupants was inhumane, barbaric, and not becoming of a civilization ingrained with the principles of equality. Moreover, the pioneers of the “free” world marginalized, ostracized, and chimerically represented the African race more than any other minority. Paradoxically dubbed the “man of the people”, Thomas Jefferson illuminated his true interpretation of equality in Notes on the State of Virginia. “We have had under our eyes the races of black and of red men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history,” he wrote. “I advance it... that the blacks... are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind (history).” Despite what the media conveys, this belief system lingered and particularly exists in the Department of Justice. For years, our government controlled the amount of accessible, viable, and financially rewarding opportunities for impoverished African Americans through the surreptitious agendas of law enforcement. However, Los Angeles

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution were historical milestones in which the ever controversial topic of racial equality was first challenged. In theory, these two movements laid the groundwork for a racially equal United States of America. A country in which every member, regardless of skin color, or race were to be treated equally under the eyes of the law and to one day be treated as equals within all realms of society. As historic and powerful as these movements were, they did

“All men are created equal” (Lee 274) cited by Thomas Jefferson, in the infamous 1776 Declaration of Independence. Throughout this paper, I will present facts that counter this claim excluding African Americans and Jews during the 1930’s and 40’s. This assignment requires me to compare and contrast, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Elie Wiesel “Night” by selecting three universal themes. My themes are racism, inequality in the judicial system and educational barriers has interfered with everyone being afforded “due process” in their pursuit to attain life, liberty, and prosperity (the basic liberties) protected by the 14th Amendment.

Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan, the lone vote against the ruling, gave the dissenting opinion of the court. Harlan “insisted that the court had ignored the obvious purpose of the Separate Car Act, which was, under the guise of giving equal accommodation for whites and blacks, to compel the latter to keep to themselves while traveling in railroad passenger coaches. Because it presupposed—and was universally understood to presuppose—the inferiority of African Americans, the act imposed a badge of servitude upon them in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.” (Duignan). He also stated, “The sure guaranty of the peace and security of each race is the clear, distinct, unconditional recognition by our governments, national and state, of every right that inheres in civil freedom, and of the equality before the law of all citizens of the United States, without regard to race. State enactments regulating the enjoyment of civil rights upon the basis of race, and cunningly devised to defeat legitimate results of the war, under the pretense of recognizing equality of rights, can have no other result than to render permanent peace impossible, and to keep alive a conflict of races, the continuance of which must do harm to all concerned” (Quotes from Plessy v. Fergusun). Harlan further explained what the constitution says by stating “Our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In

One of the biggest problems Africans Americans faced in America is Segregation, discrimination, racism, prejudice, rebellion, religion, resistance, and protest. These problems have helped shape the Black struggle for justice. Their fight for justice marks a long sequence of events towards their freedom. Provisions of the Constitution affect the operation of government agencies and/or the latitude chief executives and legislatures in the creation and implementation of policies today. The rights and passage of Amendments granted to African Americans in the Constitution serve as a source of “first principles” governing the actions and policies of elected and appointed public servants across the United States. The 15th Amendment Equal Rights: Rights

The Supreme Court’s decision has raised many concerns. While some individuals see this ruling as America taking another step in the right direction, in order to build a stronger more united nation that’s no longer haunted by the dark past of slavery. Others fear that this ruling will continue to perpetuate voting discrimination in states where discrimination was and is still very common. In Justice Ginsburg dissent to the court’s majority ruling she states that “everyone can agree that race-based voting discrimination still persists2”. Yet, despite this mutual understanding of race issues in America the section 4 coverage of the Voters Rights Act was still stroke down. A decision that many activists, leaders and government officials disagree

The examples of “Color Blind” politics from government and housing market are the “key” evidence in author's argument. In side of government, it uses three tools to help the segregation, as reading describes. For instance, the transforming white people into the true victims of racial inequality, the proposing a meritocratic society to perpetuate segregation and black subordination, and the channeling racial hatred through code words are the three kinds of policy tools that drive segregation forward. In side of housing market, the gentrification, as a new force of coercive segregation, has been created in real estate market. Rich people buying up the old real estate in poorer neighborhoods that seem more valuable and convenient to work. When

A man once stood in front of a crowd of thousands of people both black and white. He delivered a speech that fought for the possibility of an America where both black and white citizens were truly equal; this man was“Martin Luther King Jr”(Martin Luther King Jr.). One might fight back and argue that the laws during this time did make the African Americans equal but this was not true, as one of the laws stated the two as being Equal but separate. This law was one of the Jim crow laws, in which African americans were in theory separate and equal, but in reality were given second hand treatment after the prioritized white citizens (Richard). The Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional and took away many African Americans chances at being considered

This case helped set the precedent in cases that “whiteness” should be defined scientifically. Najour found naturalization and citizenship in America; however, the Court still was equivocal about whether they would classify “white” based on science or common knowledge.