Equal

I, Thurgood Marshall, am here to represent my race. I am here to represent these thirteen parents and twenty children whose rights have been so egregiously violated. I don't know how anyone can believe that quote unquote Separate but Equal is anything near equal! I give you this example: Lil' miss Linda Brown here, daughter of Mister Oliver Brown, one of the parents I represent today. Lil' Linda has to walk through a TRAIN YARD everyday, to her bus stop! When the White school, Sumner Elementary is just seven blocks from her house. Now this does not make sense to me... Why should a lil' third grader be FORCED to attend a school a mile away when she could walk right down the street? This does not sound quote unquote EQUAL to me. None of you can deny that this was NOT equal. In the United States Constitution, in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, it clearly states that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Now for you plain folk, that means that our governement must treat everyone EXACTLY the same. People of the jury, I implore you! Would you force such hardship and degredation on your own children? No! Of course not! I wouldn't force it on my children either! So I ask why you would even consider forcing this burden on this young girl? I beg you to realize that Separate but Equal is not equal, has never been equal! A nation divided cannot stand, so let us unite our nation starting with our schools, and little girls like miss Linda Brown. Let us tear down the constraints of Separate but Equal and be truely equal! Thank you! Thank you!