Plessy V Ferguson: An argument

 

        The Constitution of the United States does permit any public authority to know the race of those entitled to be protected in the enjoyment of such rights.  Every true man holds pride in himself and his race and with the rights of others, his being equal before the law, shall not be stripped from him. As it is his privilege to express such pride in his race and take action based on what seems proper to him.

        The 14th amendment actively states that “All persons”. I’ll repeat that “All persons, born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are hereby citizen of the United States. The 14th amendment continues as such, “ No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

        It was said in argument that the statute of Louisiana does not discriminate against either race but simply in act a rule applicable alike to white and colored citizens.  Many are aware that the statues in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude white persons from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons.   The fundamental objection, therefore, to the statues is that it interferes with the personal freedom of citizens. If a white man and a black man choose to occupy the same public conveyance on a public highway, it is their right to do so, and no government, proceeding alone on grounds of race, can prevent it without infringing the personal liberty of each.

        The white race has deemed itself to be the dominating race of very this country.  However, in the view of the Constitution, supposedly in the eyes of the law, this country has no superior race or ruling class of citizens.  There is no caste here.  Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.  In respect to civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.   The law regards man as man, not as a black man or a white man. Therefore all civil rights are guaranteed those who are American by the supreme law of the land are involved.