The two excuses show how irrational and utterly groundless is this
pretension. They are on a par with the pretension itself. One is,
that the question is of society, and not of rights, which is clearly
a misrepresentation; and the other is, that the separate arrangements
provided for colored persons constitute a substitute for equality in
the nature of an equivalent,--all of which is clearly a contrivance, if
not a trick: as if there could be any equivalent for equality.