How is the Dred Scott decision related to todays controversies about racism and whether to issue an apology to Blacks for slavery?
A. The Dred Scott decision issued in 1854 said that ‘Blacks had no rights that a White person was bound to respect.’ That decision established a legal dictum that was a common thread through slavery, Jim Crow apartheid, and the period of benign neglect and continues to be reflected in policies to this day. The Dred Scott decision was never reversed by the courts. The dominant society’s practice of equating and confusing Black experiences with those of gender, class, ethnicity and physical handicaps continues the legal legacy of the Dred Scott decision.
