Tagged: Fourteenth Amendment

“For his role in the American Civil War, many revere [Abraham] Lincoln as the ‘Great Emancipator’ who freed the slaves. However, in fact, Lincoln did not free a single slave in territory occupied by the Union when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Those slaves were not freed in 1861 or 1863 but rather by the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. It was the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments that essentially overturned the grotesque decision rendered in the Dred Scott case by granting black persons both citizenship and equal protection of the laws. Though it is commonly believed that Lincoln fought the Civil War to end slavery and that he favored social and political equality for black persons, these are gross mischaracterizations of Lincoln’s motives in entering the war and attitude toward equal rights for black citizens. I do not wish to belittle Lincoln’s significant contributions to securing freedom for the black race and providing a necessary step toward their securing rights as citizens of the United States. However, I seek to rebut the clear overstatements and misconceptions of Lincoln’s allegiance to the black race by challenging the myths that Lincoln fought the Civil War to end slavery and that he was a champion of equal rights for black people.”

Source: Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. From Dred Scott to Barack Obama: The Ebb and Flow of Race Jurisprudence. 25 Harvard Blackletter L. J. 12. 2009.

“[Chief Justice John] Roberts’s ‘colorblindness’ bears only a superficial resemblance to the concept as understood by past champions of equal rights, since as applied by the conservative majority on the court the approach has had dire consequences for racial minorities. Since Roberts became chief justice, the high court has struck down school desegregation plans, narrowed affirmative action, crippled the Voting Rights Act, limited the circumstances under which Americans can sue for racial discrimination, and enabled the denial of health insurance to millions of financially struggling people of color. Though the opportunity has not yet presented itself, the conservative movement from which Roberts sprung would see the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 destroyed as well.”

With regards to civil rights related cases, especially those involving the rights of African Americans, it is clear that our judicial system is completely rigged and set up in a way that would ensure that many of the gains made during the civil rights movement, would be eviscerated over time while racism continues to thrive. Smdh.

Source: Adam Serwer. “Sonia Sotomayor: Court’s Right Wing ‘Out Of Touch With Reality.’” msnbc. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sonia-sotomayor-slams-supreme-court-right-wing-race-matters.

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination. As members of the judiciary tasked with intervening to carry out the guarantee of equal protection, we ought not sit back and wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society. It is this view that works harm, by perpetuating the facile notion that what makes race matter is acknowledging the simple truth that race does matter.” — Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Justice Sotomayor stated this in her dissent to the case Bill Schuette v. Coalition To Defend Affirmative Action. Of course, the majority conservative and Republican appoinetd Justices concluded that it was constitutional for the state of Michigan to ban affirmative action in college admissions. It pisses me off that over the last 38 years, it is mostly the Justice of color who has been willing to acknowledge the realities of racism in the 21st century and write a judicial opinion with statements like this. But what good is it if her views on race will always be part of the minority?

Source: Adam Serwer. “Sonia Sotomayor: Court’s Right Wing ‘Out Of Touch With Reality.'” msnbc. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sonia-sotomayor-slams-supreme-court-right-wing-race-matters.