Plessy V. Ferguson Supreme Court Case Analysis

Racial inequality has been problematic throughout American history, and the most disastrous outcome has been its restriction of democracy. According to W. E. B. DuBois, a true democracy stems around an entire population with a colorblind educational system with further emphasis on no arbitrary segregation, large citizen participation in the electoral process, and no political and economic inequality. It is incredibly apparent that this image of an ideal democracy as yet to be achieved to the constant oppression of minority group that has plagued the history of the United States. Throughout history and into today laws and social patterns have oppressed various races, one of the most heavily oppressed groups has been the African American population.
In order for a country to be truly democratic, all people must have these rights because the population consists of everyone, not just one race. One of the key moments in the oppression of the African American community was the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court
Ferguson case were true, it would still be a contraction of democracy because the ruling allows arbitrary segregation. However, it did more than just result in arbitrary segregation because the “Separate but Equal” guideline that was created was not followed. Even though the law required that all separate facilities be equal, under risk of punishment, this was rarely the case, in fact, more often the facilities would differ greatly in quality. Additionally, the decision led to the increase of segregated facilities. The reason for this breaking of the law was passable was because of the idea that colored facilities were only worse because that is how African Americans viewed a segregated system and because the lawmakers of the time were almost entirely white and had no reason to change a system that greatly favor themselves. However, even this justification was deemed unconstitutional by the one dissenting judge, Justice John Marshall Harlan. Harlan stated, “there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizen of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens”. Harlan’s statement demonstrates that in this country no one class can be superior to another, which is the exact result of the “Separate but Equal” ruling. Furthermore, not only is the ruling unconstitutional and the unenforced, because