ABSTRACT
In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 (2007), United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” American law, the Chief Justice declared, should be color-blind. This view strikes a positive cord with most Americans; every schoolchild knows that the most famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence is that “all men are created equal.” Yet, as Paul Burka suggests in the quotation above, race and ethnicity have been touchstones of American life throughout our history. White majority status has always commanded privilege, even if only in the absence of road blocks, while minority status has often meant limited opportunity.
