Once upon a time in America we had a racial policy that called for “separate but equal” provisions for the black minority. The legal doctrine arose from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plessey vs Ferguson, in 1890[1]. The court, in effectively modifying the 14th Amendment, said the states could create separate facilities and thereby segregate the two populations.
As we’ve come to know “separate but equal” is neither truly separate nor equal. For the next 65 years, the black minority in America suffered the racial discrimination imposed by this doctrine. It wasn’t until the case of “Brown v the (Topeka) Board of Education” in the mid-1950’s did the Supreme Court move to correct the injustice it had created in its earlier ruling.
I find it interesting therefore that we see cries from the left now that we should return to the doctrine where one race or another has exclusive rights not held by the other, or that one gender or another have certain privileges not granted to the other.
When you couple this with the #MeToo sexual assault campaign the ideas of dating and relationships is undergoing a transition. I doubt anyone can reasonably forecast the final outcome of that change.
In an earlier time, we would accept the premise of separate but equal and move to the logical conclusion that women should only work for women, blacks should only work for blacks, and so on, perhaps portioning down to natural blonds can only associate with other natural blonds.
But until “Brown v Board of Education” is overturned we are kind of forced to live together, despite the deepest wishes of those who would pull us apart.
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