White_by_Law

WHITE BY LAW What is Race' When some people use the "race" they attach a biological meaning, still others use "race" as a socially constructed concept.  It is clear that even though race does not have a biological meaning, it does have a social meaning which has been legally constructed. I define a "race" as a vast group of people loosely bound together by historically liable, socially significant elements of their ancestry. Races are social products. It follows that legal institutions and practices, as essential components of our highly legalized society, have had a hand in the construction of race. Throughout the history, race has been constructed by many branches of society that empowered the ideology of difference. Specifically, in law, race has been constructed the racial meaning between black and white, to maintain the white supremacy; which negatively impact the equality between students in classrooms in all educational institutions. In our modern society, many people believe that they came to a conclusion to all their questions in life. Since the beginning of this country, the aspect of slavery was familiar to many but they never questioned its origin and how it impacted our life today. Many scholars would feel it’s strange to question how the idea of racism spread through literature and it impacted our modern society. The idea of racism started in this country through many political and social aspects. From the lower to the higher Supreme Court ruling this country with many court cases, by applying the process of the racial ideology of difference. Sadik 2 The United States could not have developed economically as a nation without enslaved African labor. When agriculture and industry began to grow in the colonial period, a tremendous labor shortage existed. Not enough white workers came from Europe and the European invaders could not put indigenous peoples to work in sufficient numbers. It was enslaved Africans who provided the labor force that made the growth of the United States possible. The roots of U.S. racism or White Supremacy lie in establishing economic exploitation by the theft of resources and human labor, then justifying that exploitation by institutionalizing the inferiority of its victims. The first application of White Supremacy or racism by the European-Americans who control U.S. society was against native peoples. Then came Blacks, as slaves. Politically, the Supreme Court took god’s position to judge on the nature of every human beings, for example, in the court case state v. Mann, the court ruled upon the absolute domination of the slave owner. Therefore, this case proves how the court justify the decision as an inheritance cause, because there’s a true bond between the slave owner and the slave that no laws or rules can destroy it. The natural rights of the slave owner is absolute, in other words, the slave owner have an absolute domination over his slave; which make the slave less than a property. In a society where the highest authority ruled that a slave is less than a property or as it stated “less value than an ox” (State v. Mann, 1830). It shows how this decision was the motivation for the spread of racism and the idea of absolute domination of a human being in people’s mind. This caused people to believe that god gave this inherence ideas that a man can absolute dominate other because this person have less value than a property. The nuclear bond between the slave and the slave owner motivated other to apply the idea of difference between each other, because this bond will never be broken. This court case was the building foundation Sadik 3 for the court case Dred Scott v. Stanford, because in this case the court used constructive ideas to question and manipulate the constitution; which indicated that naturally the people who can vote for the constitution would never vote to give those slaves the right to become citizens or residents. By constructing those ideas, the court took god’s rule again to preach and spread the idea that a slave cannot be treated as a human being or even a property under any circumstances ; even though, the Missouri compromise gave hope to those slaves to be free up north. If those slaves could not be looked upon them as property , not even as human beings, this shows how they will never be equal in a classroom where a white student look down upon them as less than a property , not carrying the same flesh as himself. Looking upon the structural of today’s modern university, it’s based on constructive ideas that been inherited from many social and political forces that generate the idea of unequal results. To critically examine and look carefully upon those structures, one have to put in mind how those forces were manufactured by the Supreme Court and government institutions; which negatively obstructed the political and social structure of the university. Those ideas were being produced when the Supreme Court judged in the Plessy v Ferguson court case against the man of color who rejected the segregation on the bus. The court constructively judged that the social segregation was not created by the constitution but it was created by the people of color, “we consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it”(Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Many believe that the court constructed the idea of micro-invalidation by dismissing and negating the liked experiences of people of Sadik 4 Color. The Supreme Court, the highest court in the nation, spread the idea of racial micro-aggression between people and eventually college students. But the court in this case went beyond the idea of micro-invalidation, because the court clearly ignored the social segregation and the forces that lead to those differences between a black and a white person. On a college campus , a student of color can be insulted by any Mirco-agression racial insult , but in the supreme court, as a represenative of a whole nation , racial insulted and denied those forces that gave the white person the superiority and the privilege to take a balk man ‘s seat in public transportation, school and in life. Also, the court stated, “our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens” (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Which shaped this image that the constitution is not involved on how those ideas of the ideology of differences are been created, because those racial differences are being produced by the people of color. “If one race be inferior to other socially, the constitution of the united states cannot put them upon the same plane” (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). This generate a negative racial climate on any college campus, because if a student of color tried to express their feelings toward a racist act, this person would be descripted as “angry” or “ savage”. The idea of ideology of difference seemed that it’s have been inherited because it’s the natural way of living , but the differences are being applied by those social forces, for example, segregated schools, segregated buses, and unequal opportunities that are available for students of color. The U.S. Supreme Court endorsed segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the "separate but equal" principle. The facilities provided for blacks were always separate, but never equal to those maintained for whites. This violated the equality aspect of Plessy's "separate but equal" principle. The facilities provided for black students should have be made equal to Sadik 5 Those available to white students, carefully stopping short of a direct challenge to Plessy. The states that practiced segregation could not afford to maintain black schools that were actually equal to those reserved for whites. Thurgood Marshall won cases that struck down Texas laws requiring segregated graduate schools in Sweatt v. Painter. A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment required those states to admit black students to their graduate and professional schools. To look upon difference and the significant in the Sweatt vs. painter case, one have to address the difference between a black vs. white school. The schools that had been made for black people were extremely poor, with very books throughout each school and classes ranged from 40 - 50 children per class. This was not the case with white people and their schools. The white peoples schools flourished with books, equipment and the classes were kept low with manageable sizes. Good teachers had been employed to teach each class, but on the other hand with black schools, teachers who did not have particularly good skills were taught, and all the teachers would also be black. Supreme Court case, Sweatt vs. Painter, in a unanimous decision, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause required that Sweatt be admitted to the university. The Court found that the "law school for Negroes," (Sweatt v. Painter, 1950). Which was to have opened in 1947, would have been grossly unequal to the University of Texas Law School. The Court argued that the separate school would be inferior in a number of areas, including faculty, course variety, library facilities, legal writing opportunities, and overall prestige. Whether the University of Texas Law School is compared with the original or the new law school for Negroes, we cannot find substantial equality in the educational opportunities offered white and Negro law students by the State. In terms of number of the faculty, variety of courses and opportunity for Sadik 6 Specialization, size of the student body, scope of the library, availability of law review and similar activities, the University of Texas Law School is superior. In education, diversity and equality are the keys for success for any educational institution. When students are treated equally in everything is provided; educational opportunities, financial- fund, and other supports. Sadly, in our modern society, the idea of “equality” is misunderstood in so many ways; which shows if equality is missing there would be no sense of diversity in education. Diversity enriches the educational experience. We learn from those whose experiences, beliefs, and perspectives are different from our own, and these lessons can be taught best in a richly diverse intellectual and social environment.  It promotes personal growth and a healthy society. Diversity challenges stereotyped prejudices; it encourages critical thinking; and it helps students learn to communicate effectively with people of varied backgrounds. Diversity strengthens communities and the workplace. Furthermore, Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of education challenged the segregated school system; which reflect on how segregation has not been abolished in our society. Brown v. Board of Education, now acknowledged as one of the greatest Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century, unanimously held that the racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the decision did not succeed in fully desegregating public education in the United States. The idea of separate but equal was given legal standing with the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. This doctrine required that any separate facilities had to be of equal quality. However, Sadik 7 The plaintiffs in this case argued that segregation was inherently unequal. The court agreed on the effect of those segregated schools on the children, “To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone” ” (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). Miserably, the court unsegregated those schools only under the law, but society was still segregated; which carried on the idea of un-diversity schools between white and students of color. The segregation changed from de jure to de facto, before Brown the law insisted on the doctrine of separate but equal; all the educational institutions have to be equal because they were segregated by law. After brown, the segregation by law became de facto, the law have no control over separation but in this situation society takes the role to create the unequal separation. There are many reasons shouting for a diverse education system, the Supreme Court stated in Brown, “Segregation of white and colored children in public has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group” (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). The court thought that segregation would be easily abolished by law, which is not true, because even after brown there was a segregation and unequal facilities that are constructed by society. In other words, even after the law declared desegregation there was no diversity in education, because equality wasn’t been reached diversity would never be accomplished. Those students of color who attend those dominant white schools, feel and experience being inferiors because they are sent to their own home as visitors, a sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. References Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ,Kansas. 347 U.S. 483 (1954). Dred Scott v. Stanford. 19 How. 393 (1857). Plessy v. Ferguson. 163 U.S. 537 (1896). State v. Mann, 13 N.C. 263 (N.C. 1830). Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950). Yosso, T.J., W.A. Smith,M. Ceja,& D.G. Solorzano. (2009,Winter). Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate for Latina/o Undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-690.