Judge Greg Mathis: Danger of Inaction

Another interesting point Judge Mathis made tonight was the danger of inaction. He referred to black history following the Civil War. There were lots of African American owned businesses (such as the Freedman's Bank), blacks were congressmen, blacks were governors of states. Blacks played important roles in society back in the late 1800's.

Judge Mathis then pointed out that, just as now, presidents in the late 1800's appointed a slate of very conservative Supreme Court justices who went on to make decisions on the Jim Crow laws, and the seperate but equal is equal doctrine. He discussed that because many blacks in the late 1800's and early 1900's had become apathetic when it came to preserving their rights, they lost them. There wasn't a black person elected to congress again, or a black person elected governor of a state again until the late 1900's.

So no matter how "good" things seem to be, ennui is always dangerous.