The Supreme Court in Plessy v Ferguson - Essay Example

This could be attributed to a myriad of factors: One of the reasons why it took longer to change Plessy v. Ferguson is that the Supreme Court’s decision was followed by states America enacting legislation that was unfair to the blacks and the coloured.

This development meant that black people could not effectively argue that their separate treatment was illegal since there was a legal basis that was based on the states’ own legislation and also supported by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the constitution as provided for under the fourteenth amendment. The long period of time taken to reverse the decision of the Supreme Court can also be attributed to the lack of a strong civil rights movement that would agitate for the improvement of the conditions in which the blacks were living.

It is worth noting that the civil rights movement came quite late in the history of America’s race relations politics. It was thus difficult for the black populace to present its case for the review of the laws which were racist and a blatant disregard to their rights (Stephen, 2011).In America, the black population did not have access to educational facilities and thus they lacked people who would lead their cause. This is because the system was such that black people were only allowed to have education which would lead them to hold blue-collar jobs, unlike the whites who had access to quality education and would in no way be expected to argue for the betterment of the conditions of living of the black people in America.

Violence and extreme violence for that matter were applied against any black people who tried to demonstrate and seek to have the system changed. It was a case of the whites suppressing the blacks and this helped delay the realization of a change in the interpretation of the fourteenth amendment outlawing separate but equal treatment. The disenfranchisement of the blacks also delayed the realization of their constitutional right to equal treatment. Blacks were removed from the voting rolls. Without the proper representation of the black minority, it was trite that their voices were muted and there was no one to advance the black people’s quest for freedom from discrimination.

The whites in elective positions ensured that the legislation passed were in effect favourable to the white majority. The exploitation of the blacks was rife. They were disempowered economically. This made their quest for freedom difficult. They were discriminated against in terms of the jobs they could hold and also pay was not commensurate to the kind of services that they offered. They did not have the muscle that would enable them to advance their cause (Stephen, 2011).