The Law Is The Last Place To Look For Freedom

Enslaved to a traveling army surgeon, Dred Scott became a free man as soon as he set foot in the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin.

It was the death of his master that moved Scott to legally pursue his and his wife’s freedom.

After having his case heard by three courts, it finally landed in the Supreme Court.

While antislavery justices in Washington argued for Scott’s freedom under the Missouri Compromise, the final, most insidious and racist opinion came from Chief Justice Robert B. Taney.

According to Taney, enslaved Black people could not be citizens of the United States. In fact, NO Black person could - freedmen be damned. Without citizenship, he ruled, a case brought to federal court by a “negro” didn’t matter. Black people weren’t people.

The final ruling was 7-2: Scott’s freedom was legally denied.

This decision against Scott remains so relevant today because it reflects an ongoing attitude pervasive in America’s criminal justice system.

We’re still considered subhuman in the eyes of the law. Still hunted, thrown into cages, and denied freedom via the prison industrial complex. Still subjected to redlining and other racist housing policies. Still blatantly killed for the color of our skin.

Every day, we’re shown our lives don’t matter. Every day, America goes out of its way to uphold the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision.