"Separate but equal"; the one basic rule when segregation was legal. Here's the little thing about rules... there is always someone who doesn't follow them. A white person used to have working, clean, and attractive drinking fountains, so it stands to reason that the fountains for the colored people have to be equal, right? Nope. The fountains for the African-American community were unkempt, unhygienic, and just overall quite awful. It was well known by both the civilians, law enforcement, and even the elected officials that, that the separate but equal rule was not being upheld. A good case of this is the voting system for the state of Alabama. Now, to make the right to vote an equally available opportunity and privilege, legally, everyone was required to take a test to be able to vote. One of those tests was 68 questions long, and people were only allowed to miss six of those said questions. "One of those tests", meaning, yes, there were more. That 68 question test, with questions almost no American could answer, was only for the "colored folks". You thought that test was hard? Psh you haven't seen anything yet. The white people clearly had it the hardest, their test had only one question, outrageously difficult already; let me help you guess that question, it was generally some insanely complex thing such as "what street do you live on?", or, god forbid, the even more mentally challenging, "what is your mother's name?" If you hadn't detected the subtle sarcasm...don't bother reading the rest. It is the exact opposite of two separate but equal things; this test was put together by the state government, meaning, they knew about this! It only adds to the point that even the government, which is supposed to represent the ideals of our once( but most definitely no longer) great nation, was actively supporting racism and segregation. Think of it this way: suppose someone comes to your door and says "you can have free health insurance! BUT...you have to explain every known diagnosable infection". Now think what if that person gave a rich old white man, who definitely already has insurance and doesn't need it, the same offer; all that man had to do was tell them his social security number. The literacy test's point was to follow the rules of voting, that everyone has the opportunity to pass the test, while making it nearly impossible to do so, but only for select people, those people only being the blacks. While the African American could take the test, every possible obstacle was being thrown in their way, the biggest obstacle even being the damn test they needed to take. How are the laws supposed to be equal if the people who are supposed to be enforcing the claimed equality, our government, don't want to do so?
