Mock Trial #2 Reflection
This mock trial was on the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Homer Plessy was a man who was one eighths black. Concerned with how the U.S. seemed to be regressing laws designed to protect African Americans, Plessy agreed to test the strength of the fourteenth amendment by purposely buying a ticket for a white train car and attempting to sit on it. The police were notified and Plessy was arrested and found guilty. He appealed the case and it went all the way up to the supreme court. Ferguson in this case is the railroad company from which Plessy bought a white ticket.
Arguments in favor of Plessy
There were strong arguments from both sides of this trial, but a few in particular stood out to me. One argument I found very interesting is that there's nothing wrong with Plessy entering this train car. People got upset about it because of an idea in their head that it shouldn't happen, if not for this idea, nobody would have a problem with it. Nobody would've been hurt if everyone just let go of their prejudices. This is racism in a nutshell basically. It's sad that people have predisposed ideas about race that are so strong that they get legitimately upset at something like this, there's just no reason for it. One simple but effective argument in favor of Plessy is that segregation is just bad for business. Operating both a black and white train cars doubles expenses. I liked how straight and to the point this argument was, it's very strong in its simplicity. The last argument I want to touch on is the legal argument, a bit that particular stood out to me is that equality is not a complicated or ambiguous idea. The segregation of the train cars is clearly unequal and should be unconstitutional by the fourteenth amendment. Another argument that's strong in its simplicity, I really liked how it was pointed out how simple of a concept equality is and how this clearly violates it.
Arguments in favor of Ferguson
Overall I think the pro Plessy side had stronger arguments, but there is still some arguments worth noting on the pro Ferguson side. By far the strongest argument on this side was that Plessy's actions were deliberate breaking of the law. It wasn't an accident or a misunderstanding. Plessy had full intention to do what he did and he knew exactly what he was doing. In a court of law this argument is very strong since it focuses entirely on the law being broken. Of course in most other forms of debate this argument is pretty flimsy because we know that just because Plessy was breaking the law, that doesn't necessarily mean he was in the wrong. Still an extremely solid argument from the Ferguson side. The last argument I want to mention is the one about the reasoning behind segregation. People at the time believed segregation was the only way to have a peaceful society at the time. This is interesting to me because it truly is the state of mind people were in at the time. It circles back to the previously mentioned pro Plessy argument about racism being a concept completely created in ones mind, the fact that it was so strong that people believed separation was the only way to keep the peace is sad to think about. Humans can get very attached to ideas sometimes and my takeaway is to be more open minded to other perspectives.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
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