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Race Consciousness and the Law
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20144 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1992 |
4,709 Words |
| Author
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Peter Widulski
Peter Widulski teaches in the graduate liberal studies
division of Rutgers University. He has written articles on law
and philosophy and on constitutional issues. |
Human beings of all races are endowed with the dignity and worth that come by virtue of participation in morality, intellect, and spirit. If law can legitimately be race conscious at all, it is because first and foremost law must be conscious of humanity. We are creatures of dignity because we are human, not because we are white or black. The law, in giving effect to principles of justice, must be very careful to respect the relevant entitlements of people. Traditionally, entitlements pertain to us as individuals or because of our humanity. If an allegation is made as to an entitlement due to race, the law must treat this claim with grave suspicion. In a society in which people of different races must live together, racial hatred and discrimination, in addition to being wrong in principle, also represent profound threats to peace and good order. Each human being has an obligation to recognize and respect the humanity of people of other races. This respect is respect for the capacities of moral, intellectual, and spiritual understanding, and it points to that which these powers make possible-participation in a common life. While respect must appreciate individuality and cultural differences since these are goods necessary to humanity, respect would not be genuine if that were all it acknowledged. Moral, intellectual, and spiritual isolation are not human goods.
Respect is fulfilled in common life, and therefore, in public life. Individuality and differences can, and ought to be, a source of understanding and joy. Differences among races, however, can also be a source of hatred, fear, and separation. We all have an obligation to prevent these differences from destroying our common and public life. Diversity can be good, but we are not beings of intellect and spirit because of our diversity.
Law, Race, And American History
Public life, however, does not begin in the present. The public life of a nation has a history, and all of us alive today participate in that history. In the case of the United States we have the particular good fortune of being able to think of our nation in relation to its founding. As Americans we often cast our arguments in terms of our founding principles. Not many nations today can do that. Through giving us a founding to refer to, our forefathers gave us something that was treasured by the great nations of the ancient world. And by identifying themselves and their countrymen as "We the People of the United States," they have left us an invitation and an obligation to think of ourselves as sharing a common life grounded in fundamental principles of natural
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