Is America Moving Towards Racial Equality?

The Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday to overturn a Louisiana court’s ruling, which had in 1996 sentenced Alan Snyder to death on charges of first degree murder, was momentous on two levels. It set the precedence that the Supreme Court is still committed to protecting individuals’ rights from state infringements but it also sends a more powerful message about race relations within the United States. Discrimination, at least in the legal system, is unacceptable.

The Court’s opinion, written up by Justice Alito, defends their decision to overturn the case on the basis of jury bias as African Americans were systematically excluded during the jury selection process. Snyder has been granted a new trial. This case will therefore take its place in the halls of history, alongside cases such as Powel v. Alabama and Parker v. Gladden, as a direct attempt by the Supreme Court to protect not only civil liberties but also the integrity of the jury system, which remains one of the only remnants of pure democracy in the United States.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes at a time when the world waits with bated breath to see if America has finally risen above the racial prejudices that have marked its legal and political cultures for centuries. Particularly with the possibility of a black president, many people are now wondering if the United States is moving closer to Senator Obama’s “more perfect union”.

Amidst reflections on the Supreme Court’s decision and W.E.B Dubois’s statement that race is “a concrete test of the underlying principles of the great republic”, we are left to ask the question: Is America really moving towards racial equality?

The jury is still out on that one.