The moment the first slave was brought to America a ball was set in motion that one day somewhere and somehow a distinction between races had to be dealt with. The Civil War helped to make a stand against enslavement. A few years later in Plessy v. Ferguson another step was taken to give blacks equal but separate treatment and access to public facilities. After taking a giant leap into the future, fifty-eight years, we have another landmark case. In Brown v. Board of Education, the separate but equal law was revised to bring the races together in the same public facilities with access to the same public resources. The decision of Brown released congress from the restraints that they had been under with the previous decisions made by the Supreme Court. Congress was now able to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race. Quotas were instituted to minimize the discrimination that had been taking place. With quotas comes reverse discrimination. In Bakke v. Regents of the University of California came the dismissal of quotas in schools. Bakke challenged the University for letting black students into school with lower qualifications. Quotas are an unfortunate necessity to help incorporate blacks into the mainstream workforce. The decisions in Plessy and Brown are similar because of how the decisions affect the group instead of the individuals. The Court is continually ruling in regard to race instead of the individual. If the Constitution is truly color blind, then we would not have these distinctions between classes when the rulings are made. Each ruling by the Court should be done on an individual basis and by the merits of that particular individual instead of the color of ones skin. The only reason the court rules in favor of Brown is because the implications go beyond just the individual affected, the ruling will affect the entire black race. The effects of the Brown case go a...
