The following brief compares two Supreme Court decisions: Plessy v Ferguson and Brown v Board of Education. I will look specifically at American society and the political climate around the time each decision was rendered.
             In the decision Plessy v Ferguson (8-1) the precedent of "separate" facilities for blacks and whites was legal, as long as they were "equal". The highest court of the land presumed that "separation of individuals according to their race", was not discrimination.
             Unfortunately, over the 70-year period between the rulings of Plessy v Ferguson and Brown v Board of Education, American society did not live up to the decision of the court, "separate but equal". For example, colleges and universities continued to display prejudice against black students through lack of admittance or intimidation following admittance. Also, all-black educational facilities were economically disadvantaged compared with white-only facilities, obviously not allowing for "separate but equal". After the overturned decision in Brown v Board of Education, school districts were slow to respond, thus requiring Congress and the president to fight against school segregation with additional legislation. The only truth found in the original decision of Plessy v Ferguson is, "Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation."
             In the year 2004, politics and policies cannot eradicate racism. This is observable by recent affirmative action programs which seek to assist minorities. However, these programs tend to create a reverse discrimination process, by not admitting qualified white, or majority, applicants. Any process that takes into account gender, race, and ethnic background is discriminating. This places a disadv...