One of the bleakest moral episodes in American history after slavery was segregation. But, as Americans are wont to do,…
One of the bleakest moral episodes in American history after slavery was segregation. But, as Americans are wont to do, they put a legal spin on what separate but equal might mean: which, of course, was neither separate nor equal. The following is a quote from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the Decision Plessey v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) which legalized segregation. “If he be a white man and assigned to a colored coach, he may have his action for damages against the company for being deprived of his so-called property. Upon the other hand, if he be a colored man and be so assigned, he has been deprived of no property, since he is not lawfully entitled to the reputation of being a white man.” Provide answers to these three questions:Considering private property rights and the market from chapter 3 in your text, what property rights was the Supreme Court trying to give ‘whiteness?’ How would the courts need to justify each of the three arguments for property: utility, autonomy, and fairness for ‘whiteness’ to be a kind of property?What arguments before the court would you make against attributing property rights to ‘whiteness’?
