The object of the Fourteenth Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either .
Justice Brown argued that simply by making a distinction between black and white, no harm is done to either race. He goes on to say, " Laws permitting, and even requiring, their separation in places where they are liable to be brought into contact do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other-(Handout p 554). Simply by making a distinction, he says, is in no way degrading to the opposite race, but simply a way of making a distinction. It is the same way in which schools are divided, in which children of different ages, sexes and colors as well as schools for those who have become to old attend classes but still have not mastered the basics. They are distinctions with a purpose, he claims. .
Brown then goes on to claim that the underlying fallacy of Plessy's argument is that Plessy assumes that the separation of races is to place a badge of inferiority on the ones who have been segregated. However, that "badge" of inferiority comes from the minds of the African-Americans themselves. Brown adds that if blacks were in charge of legislation, the white Americans would be claiming that they were being made the inferior. He also makes the point, which many believe to be his most memorable statements, that social prejudices cannot be overcome through legislation. If everything else is equal: political power, civil power, etc, and one race is still inferior to the other, there is nothing that the United States Constitution can do to put them on the same plane. Through his majority opinion, Brown makes "separate but equal" a common concept, which remained in place for the next half a century.
