plessy versus ferguson is the legal case that constitutionalize segregation.t was decided at a time in which most of the academy, most of the sciences believed in the idea there were natural differences between races, that african-americans were inherently different and inferior and to treat them as though they were the same, namely to strike down segregation was to give them something that they didn't deserve. when you have baselines that are predicated in the idea of inherent differences and inequalities between the races, no amount of inequality in society, no amount of accommodation of that inequality is seen as illegitimate and unconstitutional. we are challenged today to attack and address some of the ways in which science is using contemporary society to say there are inherent differences between races and therefore inequality is just there. that is a lot of what critical race theory is about, challenging these baselines, challenging other ways their institutions tell us stories that make us think that racial inequality is just there and its natural we