Law and Race Commons^™

Of 'Subtle Prejudices,' White Supremacy And Affirmative Action: A Reply To Paul Butler, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

I analyze the connection of affirmative action to two models of race and racism. I contend that the Supreme Court Justices who continue to support affirmative action adhere to a "prejudice" model in which race is a concept to be overcome and racism is merely a condition of individual ignorance. 13 On the other hand, I posit that Professor Butler's proposals fall within a "white supremacy" model, which looks at race as a historically contingent concept that has been used to subordinate non-white peoples from precolonial times through the present. This historical perspective offers the possibility that the concept of …