Unequal Justice: A Legacy of Bias

Civil liberties are supposed to be the foundation of democracy — the promise that everyone

gets personal freedom, equal treatment, and protection from state bias. But in the U.S.,

those rights haven’t been shared equally. From slavery to Jim Crow to modern policing,

Black Americans have faced laws that label them as suspicious and “deserving” of surveillance.

The Constitution may guarantee fairness through amendments like the 2nd to 8th,

but history shows those promises were uneven from the start. After slavery ended,

the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were meant to bring equality,

yet laws like the Black Codes and Jim Crow rebuilt racial hierarchies through legal means