I am convinced that the term “racial discrimination” must be the most overused term in our popular culture, ranking alongside “invidious discrimination” in the legal culture. Neither term means all that much. For a recent example, look no further than a recent letter from Roger Clegg, President and General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity. In the letter, Mr. Clegg complained that “[t]here can be no serious doubt that whites face more racial discrimination in [the context of university admissions] today than do African Americans.”
In reading this passage, and the letter in its entirety, I was reminded of Herbert Wechsler’s much criticized Holmes lecture, where he offered a critique of the Court’s reasoning in Brown. I was particularly reminded of his closing, where he offered the following:
I think, and I hope not without foundation, that the Southern white also pays heavily for segregation, not only in the sense of guilt that he must carry but also in the benefits he is denied. In the days when I was joined with Charles H. Houston in a litigation in the Supreme Court, before the present building was constructed, he did not suffer more than I in knowing that we had to go to Union Station to lunch together during the recess.
I must confess that I really don’t get what Professor Wechsler means, the same way I simply cannot understand what Mr. Clegg is referring to. This is cognitive dissonance in full display.
But to dismiss these views off-hand would be to miss a far more important and interesting story.
