Unethical practices of a society can not be blamed on the individual’s within that corrupt society, but instead the leadership that guides their blind thinking. This concept of the corrupt elite influencing the society below them can be seen throughout the history of America. One such example of this in America is the idea of African American oppression. The Framers themselves failed to address the issue of slavery, so the African American community had to endure intense oppression until the Civil Rights movements. However, at every turn the American leadership in power either pushed the public to see the heinous acts as justified or enacted laws to create a further inability to escape the oppression. As a result, the initial creation of the …show more content…
The Framers were of elite status with immense power and knowledge for the time, but despite all the power and knowledge that all of the Framers had they all had different views on the ethical issue of slavery. Two sides formed of either for or against the act of slavery with each side being increasingly hostile toward each person as the Framers at the time were unable to reach any sort of consensus on the matter. As a result, the Framers simply gave up on the idea of trying to have consensus on slavery and differed the choice over to the states, giving them the right to choose whether they want slavery or not. Author Steven Mintz, in his article “The Constitution and Slavery”, identifies that “the word ‘slave’ does not appear in the Constitution. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognizing that it would sully the document” (Mintz). The Framers did not mention the idea of slavery due to its highly volatile opinions it brought out and so the framers decided that slavery itself would be a state ruling, forcing future generations to deal with the issue of slavery instead of …show more content…
The Supreme Court itself can really be seen as one of the main reasons for the continuous oppression of the African American people as the Supreme Court would rule on cases in a way that would only create a further perpetuate the oppression of African American lives. An example of this can be seen in the 1883 Civil Rights Cases where, “the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional those federal civil rights laws preventing discrimination by private individuals” (Dye & Zeigler 353). This ruling was an 8-1 decision that, essentially, denied the Congress the ability to protect African Americans by legislative means and gave the ability to create something sinister, segregation. The oppression of African Americans truly became systematic again as it alludes to an oppression that is similar to slavery itself. The Framers are equally to blame for this oppression as they did not ban it from the beginning, so the elites who essentially wanted to keep the racist agenda were continuously perpetuated throughout the generations following the birth of the