Monday, February 06, 2012

What Happens When the Majority Determines the Civil Rights of Minorities

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - and of course, the disingenuous hate merchants at the National Organization for Marriage - want gay marriage rights put up for public referendum. History has shown the danger of allowing a tyrannical majority decide the rights of an often disliked minority. The map above shows the state of the laws on school segregation at the time of the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Only the states in red had laws banning segregation. The states in green required segregation. The first lesson to be learned is that the majority cannot be trusted with the rights of minorities. The second lesson is that those who want a referendum on minority rights are all too often bigots.

1 comment:

Biki Honko said...

Yes! And these are the very same people who voted segeration into law, why on earth would they vote it out? Civil rights are a right for all americans, its not a pick and choose which americans have rights. Bigots are the lowest form of life.