Who gets to say who's who? Plessy's insidious legacy

Abstract

Plessy v. Ferguson's legacy reaches far beyond Jim Crow's "separate but equal"doctrine to perpetuate state control of personal identity. The 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld white supremacy's slave law power to say who's who, epitomized in state power to declare some human beings not persons but mere property. It sanctioned government power to identify and categorize individuals and to direct their actions and interactions based on such identities and categories. In perpetuating unchecked state determination of individual identities, Plessy persists in its insidious denial of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. To reestablish birthright personal autonomy over identity free of state subordination requires reforming U.S. law to recognize and accept the individuality of human diversity. Such a process requires abolishing state authority to arbitrarily assign personal identity by decree and recognize the basic personal autonomy of individuals to define, redefine, and express their individual identities.