Racism is a group-based phenomenon based on power. Racism is more than individual prejudice and bias. Racism is structural, institutional and systematic. Racism is oppression through control over resources, control of policy and law making and re-enforcing that certain groups benefit from racial hierarchies. Nothing that has happened in America has been by chance or accident. These status quos and ideals are maintained. THE SAD TRUTH IS THAT THE SUPREME COURT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE GUARD DOG OF RACISM IN AMERICA. The Court has always ruled in ways that benefit the racial power structures of that specific time. The Court has a history of rulings that allowed the advancement of slavery and segregation, allowed legitimatizing racist laws and practices. While also weakening civil rights protections by denying citizenship and blocking equity efforts through restricting voting rights and economic access. With the Trump Administrations current packing of the court with conservative justices (6 conservative, 3 liberal) they know exactly what they are doing. These conservatives are trying to go back to the original intent of the constitution. That means dividing up resources in America based on a racial hierarchy and the Supreme court today is allowing them to do so the same way it always has.
Justice in America can only be given out through white eyes. Out of the 116 supreme court judges, 2.5 have been Black and only 8 have been non-white men. I say 2.5 because I count Ketanji Jackson and Thurgood Marshall as having respectable careers as Judges who happen to be Black, but I have little to no respect for the Cowardice rulings of Clarence Thomas currently sitting as a judge. But that is for later. The demographics of Supreme court Judges throughout American history has not been an accurate reflection of America and its demographics at all. As a matter of fact, the first 30 supreme court judges were slaveowners. This shows that the original lawmakers and judges didn’t even see Blacks as humans. “3/5ths of a man” I believe is the phrase of the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787. A Ruling that stated for purposes of taxation and representation, every enslaved person would count as three-fifths of a human. The Supreme court maintained this ruling about 80 years later, by referencing it in the Dred Scott v Sandford 1857 case ruling that whether free or not, Blacks or enslaved people would never be citizens because they are “inferior” and that no Black person has any rights that a white person is bound to respect. This is the same thing the Redneck conservatives are saying in the court today. The NFRA better known as The National Federation of Republican Assemblies used the Dred Scott decision from 1857 as legal basis for why Kamala Harris (Black/Indian), Vivek Ramaswamy (Indian) and Nikki Haley (Indian) were all not eligible to run for president. They challenged that because of the Dred Scott decision, descendants of slaves or Black Americans could not be citizens (Kamala Harris), meaning they won’t have any protection from the government. Also claiming that people like Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy are ineglible even though yes, they were born in America, but their parents were aliens. With little to no representation in the Supreme court it is almost become impossible for Blacks specifically and other non-white demographics to get racial justice and combat this type of systematic racism brought on by conservatives and conservative rulings. A structure set up and based on race, cannot be beaten.
In the earliest days of the court, the racism was overt. It was obvious. As time went on the Supreme court had many rulings that one would say improved racial tensions, but these laws were soon gutted and once again Black Americans got the shit end of the stick. The civil rights act of 1866 was the first federal law aimed at defining citizenship and declared all people born in the United States were granted citizenship and the same rights as White citizens including the right to own property, sue in court and have full protection of federal law. This act failed because of weak enforcement by the Supreme Court by allowing Jim Crow laws in the south and allowing systematic discrimination to continue. Match that with the Supreme Courts narrow interpretation of the 14th amendment. The court purposefully limited federal power by prioritizing state sovereignty over federal intervention which made it nearly impossible to combat state-level discrimination of Blacks. The widespread white resistance of the Civil rights Act of 1866 made it impossible to enforce.
The civil rights act of 1866 paved the way for the Era of Reconstruction. For Blacks, this would be the addition of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Also known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Remember in my previous writing I said that the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were specifically written for Black Americans. These amendments were to repair the damage that the three-fifths Compromise created. These Amendments showed a promising level of freedom, equity and progression for Black Americans. The 13th amendment abolished slavery and was totally undermined by mass incarceration. Southern states passed “Black Codes” that criminalized minor behaviors and offenses that basically enslaved many Blacks through prison labor. Fast forward 300 years later Black Americans are still largely incarcerated compared to other races. The 14th Amendment guaranteed equal protection, due process and birthright citizenship. The Supreme court’s ruling on the Slaughterhouse case of 1873 narrowed the scope on privileges making the amendment powerless. The Court narrowly defined the rights of U.S. citizens, excluding many civil rights freedoms and effectively weakened the amendment’s original intent to protect the rights of newly emancipated blacks. The Supreme court also weakened the 14th Amendment by upholding the constitutionality of the Plessy V Ferguson 1896 case. This ruling established the constitutionality of racial segregation. Under the separate but equal doctrine, Jim crow laws and legal racial segregation was upheld for 5 decades. Lastly the 15th Amendment. This final amendment was aimed at protecting voting rights of Blacks after the civil war by limiting voting restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests and prohibiting racial discrimination. Despite the clear intention of the amendment, the Supreme court allowed for the states to disenfranchise the ruling. In the United States v Reese Case of 1876 the state of Kentucky refused to count a black Mans vote arguing that the 15th Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to vote—it only prohibits denial of voting based on race. This ruling allowed states to impose unnecessary poll taxes, property requirements for voting and literacy tests for newly freed slaves who probably couldn’t read or write because for 300 years it was illegal to teach them how to read and write. Unfortunately, in 1903 in the Giles v Harris case the court refused to intervene in Alabama’s voter registration laws. Claiming that because the state of Alabama was discriminatory in practice but not on paper, that the Supreme court was powerless. A pretty pathetic ruling if you ask me. Just like the other Reconstruction Amendments, the intent of the 15th amendment was purposefully gutted. By 1908, almost all southern states had purged their Black voters while Jim Crow laws and white supremacy ruled southern politics. The Voting rights act of 1965 was about the time when the 15th amendment actually became relevant. As you can see the states’ rights vs federal government has become a major player when talking about Black Americans.
In every example, the federal government is left to play the role of protector while the state government plays the role of predator. The “red” conservative states for the third time in American History are trying to destroy the United States. The Supreme court has sat back and watched these “takeovers” occur and have played a huge role in doing so by having pro-slavery justices being sympathetic towards southern constitutional arguments, adhering to pro-segregationist arguments and the rollback of protections for Black Americans through federal government. The first time was the Southern states secession and the violent rebellious Civil War the southern states started in order to preserve slavery and the racial hierarchy system. With the Supreme court being actively pro-slavery at the time we can quickly connect the dots to see that the court was not in a hurry to stop southern states from maintaining racial hierarchy. Fortunately for Americans, the Union/ North won the war, but this did not stop the undermining from the Supreme court. The Supreme court upheld the systems of economic exploitation by protecting white supremacist violence and refusing to prosecute racial attackers. United States V Cruikshank 1876 was a landmark case after the civil war that held “the federal government could not prosecute racial attackers under the 14th amendment because the violence was committed by individuals and not the state.” This gave FREE REIGN to any and all types of racial terror for southern Blacks and this was nightmare socially for these newly freed blacks. In 1883 the Supreme court struck down the Civil rights act of 1875 originally created to ban racial discrimination in public arguing that it only prohibited STATE discrimination, and not private. This strike down, led to legalized segregation in every realm of life including schools, hotels, bars, malls etc. Further exacerbating the racial hierarchy.
By the mid 1900s (1940s-60s) the Supreme court had clearly allowed the southern states to continue to play this game, and the trend continued. This is the second wave of red states trying to destroy the country. The delayed actions of the Supreme court after Brown v Board 1955 was a clear indicator that racial justice was not on the forefront of the court’s agenda. Especially in southern states. Brown V Board 1955 declared segregation in schools unconstitutional. But 10 years later by 1965 only 1% of Black students in southern states were in integrated schools. The court refused to comply fast, which allowed states to be defiant towards the ruling. The court had a reputation of not enforcing laws. Because of their failure for decades to confront voter suppression, the court upheld two cases that in theory, helped black people out against voter discrimination but were undermined… once again. The first was Harper v Virginia 1966. This case was upheld by the court and ruled that poll taxes in state elections were unconstitutional and not rational for the state to collect revenue in order for people to vote. This decision was a significant victory for civil rights, reinforcing the principle that voting is a fundamental right that should not be conditioned on wealth. It empowered many African Americans and poor whites to participate in state and local elections, thereby strengthening democratic ideals in the United States. The second case was South Carolina V Katzenbach 1966, this case upheld the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a pivotal law aimed at eliminating racial discrimination in voting. Both Harper V Virginia and South Carolina V Katzenback were landmark cases that the Supreme court eventually undermined by allowing new forms of voter suppression. Complex registration rules, voter roll purges and the reduction of polling places in Black communities have been carrying on since these cases were upheld for the cases to have much of an impact. Lastly, the courts did not treat these actions as equivalents to poll taxes, so when the courts got rid of poll taxes, they figured that their job was done. And that lack of attention to those problems have had just as much or if not a bigger impact than the taxes.
When we talk about our third way that conservatives and representatives from southern states are ruining the country, we must talk about the relationship with conservative judges and how it reflects representation. We must begin with the electoral college. What is the electoral college? The Electoral College is a system of electors/representatives chosen by each state who formally cast their vote for President and Vice President. In total there are 538 electors. 100 from the senate (2 from each state), 435 from the House of representatives and 3 from Washington DC. The problem with the electoral college is that its intent in southern states was a mess. Because of the three fifths compromise, Southern states had an influx of people who were counted in population but not counted in voting (slaves). The slaves had no representation, rights or voting power but the three fifths compromise allowed southern states to inflate their population numbers which ultimately boosted the political power of southern states. We can see this same misrepresentation or under representation in today’s America. In the states of North and South Dakota there is a population of about 1.6 million total. Between Detroit Michigan, Chicago Illinois and Columbus Ohio, I have about 2 million BLACK PEOPLE ALONE. Do you see how this is a problem?.. How are these Blacks being represented the same as the people in the Dakotas? Or Vermont? Or Wyoming? Or any state where there isn’t that large of a population. That is not fair that an area that small would have the same representation as these predominantly Black areas with more people. This is STRUCTURAL RACISM. 80% of all Black Americans live within 10 major metropolitan areas (Atlanta GA, Detroit MI, Chicago IL, Houston TX, Washington DC, Birmingham AL, NYC NY, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL and Jackson MS). This is why Donald Trump and the conservative base in the redneck states. Only 30% of the people get 70% of the representation in these states thanks to the electoral college and its policies. Black Americans and their wants and needs are swept under the rug by having a lack of representation. Because we live in a winner take all system, the amplification of political power by less diverse populations has been multiplied. This often affects Black communities and other marginalized ones.
Youre probably wondering what the Supreme court has to do with this? While it is true that the Supreme court doesn’t directly control the Electoral College, the court has the ability to step in if legal questions come about and it has the authority to interpret and rule on cases related to how the Electoral college works. The best example of this I could explain to you is the Rucho V Common Cause 2019 case. The Supreme court ruled that partisan gerrymandering claims are political questions that federal courts cannot review. Meaning gerrymandering cannot be federally controlled. Gerrymandering is when states redraw their legislative or congressional district maps in order to help their own candidates win their respective elections. Gerrymandering is done in two ways. Packing or Cracking. Packing refers to the process of concentrating the opposing party voters into a few districts while cracking refers to the process of spreading the opposing party’s voters across many districts. Gerrymandering can and will undermine fair representation, weaken the power of minority communities, and influence national elections indirectly negatively by not telling the truth about an area’s representation. Because the Supreme Court obtains the ability of maintaining the structure and legality of the electoral college and they choose not to, by doing so they are upholding the status quo of racial hierarchy.
We live in a time where racism is covert and not overt. Because of that, the next generation of conservatives will be as race focused and aimed at causing harm by race through systematic racism more than they have in the previous 6-7 decades. In my opinion, with the history of the states fighting for states’ rights, in almost every facet it has had a negative impact on Blacks. The Supreme court knows this and continues to align itself with state-sovereignty rulings. Thus, giving political power and leverage to the electoral college, groups like the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, the Ku Klux Klan, Turning Point USA and local governments aimed at continuing race based hierarchical practices. In order to power the people, we must reconsider and reassess the power, control and influence the Supreme court has had because it has never, ever, ever, ever ruled in favor of Black Americans. The Supreme court has systematically denied citizenship and basic rights, systematically upheld racist and discriminatory laws, rolled back civil rights protections and systematically weakened voting rights and economic access for Black Americans. Racism is still very prevalent today and always has been in America. As long as the Supreme court continues to function the same way it has for the entire existence of our country, then nothing will change. Actually, things will start to get worse, and we are seeing that with the Trump administrations current attitude by packing the courts with conservative justices.
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