Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Law and race shouldn’t mix

As the fight for equality rages on, legal protection is constantly being extended to groups that have historically been discriminated against, including women, ethnic minorities, and those of non-traditional gender or sexual orientation. We have passed anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation; we have fought court battles; we have sought to change society. In our most valiant efforts to stamp out discrimination, however, we have inadvertently perpetuated the concept of difference based on race by codifying it in law.

“Race” is not real. There is no objective method that can delineate the difference between “races.” Based on the current definition used by the National Center for Education Statistics, as well as the Common Application, I, the son of a Swedish immigrant, am of the same “race” as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. We have absolutely nothing in common but a racial label. We speak different languages, have differing religious beliefs, look nothing alike, are members of drastically contrasting cultures, come from different economic backgrounds and were born several decades and thousands of miles apart. Yet somehow, according to race theory, we are similar because we are both “white.”

Race only exists because of centuries of misconception; it has absolutely no grounds in genetics, biology or any of the hard sciences. The study of race is a social science, not a natural one. As such, I believe that our laws should not recognize it. Law ought to be about truth, justice and order, not outdated social distinctions.

That is not to say that we should drop the issue of discrimination— far from it, in fact. While race may not be “real,” discriminatory acts and practices are, and it is entirely possible to prevent and punish discrimination without a need for legal recognition of race. It ought to be illegal to discriminate in employment based on anything that does not affect the applicant’s ability to perform the duties of the job; this includes race as well as gender, social class and sexual orientation, without institutionalizing it, which is causing the problem.

Following this trend, hate crime laws should not exist. The entire purpose of hate crime legislation is to add additional penalties when a crime has already been committed, based solely on the perpetrator’s motive. But almost no criminal would go free in the absence of hate crime legislation. Murder is still murder and assault is still assault, even when prejudice is not involved. Severity of punishment ought to reflect the actual harm inflicted on the victim, not the reason why the perpetrator did what they did. It seems like hate crime laws only exist so that politicians can claim to be tough on crime and supportive of minority groups.

A similar issue is that of college admissions. Politicians continuously fight to keep Affirmative Action policies in effect when in reality, race has very little to do with college admissions. Many of the racial minorities who attend college are those who come from a financially stable, middle-class background: the reason that minority groups are so underrepresented in college admissions is that members of minority groups are more likely to be living at or below the poverty line than non-minorities as a result of historical discrimination. Children whose family incomes are among the top 25 percent are five times more likely to graduate from college than children whose family incomes are in the bottom 25 percent. Compare this to the fact that 43.3 percent of white versus 38.4 percent of black 18- to 24-year-olds are enrolled in college, and it quickly becomes apparent that college enrollment has much more to do with socioeconomic class than race.

Instead of wasting time fighting over a solution to a race-discrimination problem in college admissions, which quite frankly does not seem to actually exist anymore, the government ought to focus on making college more affordable for those of lesser means, a policy that could actually help close the education gap.

The government should not legally recognize anything that cannot be objectively defined, because such things have no basis in fact, and their social definitions are in constant fluctuation. The law ought to be solid, resolute and firmly based in observable reality, and it is for this reason that race ought not to be included anywhere in the legal code. While it will always be necessary for the law to protect victims of various forms of discrimination, it does not need to legitimize the beliefs of the discriminators in order to do so.

Stefan Herlitz is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

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  • A

    AndreMar 13, 2014 at 7:34 am

    This article is an embarrassment and a testiment to anti-intellectualism.

    Reply
  • F

    FridaMar 12, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    Just because race is not biologically real doesn’t mean that it’s not socially real. It holds ever present weight and importance in our culture and our country and therefore needs regulation and protection in our government.

    Hate crimes are a reality of our culture that happen every day in every part of our country, they’re such a rampant issue that more laws had to be created to address this instead of just using the legislation against murder and assault because the issue is so much worse than that.
    While I agree that our education system should be amended to provide much more support for those in lower economic classes, the reason that affirmative action exists is because our country’s history of racism gave whites an unfair advantage resulting in the majority of minority populations to live in or barely above poverty. Affirmative action is a way to atone for that, but it is far from perfect. Minorities, including women, are expected to over compensate by excelling in everything they’ve done in order to have a hope of standing equal to someone born with privilege. What I’m saying is that although there is an attempt at using affirmative action, people with privilege in this country — (white, male, affluent) — are still far better off than those without. There is still a massive wage gap, and plenty of legal protection that benefits this demographic. It is a fact of our society, people that study these issues and actually know what they’re talking about have completely confirmed it and I suggest you try listening to someone that knows more about this than you before you propagate your own extremely biased and sheltered beliefs.

    There are hundreds of cases of hate crimes and rape that go in favor of the offender because the individuals in power in our legal system have been raised to be distrustful of minorities because America still has a culture of racism, it hasn’t gone away. There’s even more that go completely unreported because minorities are aware of how biased the legal system is and know there’s so little hope of them realizing justice.

    Your claim of race factoring too much into law is true only in the fact that the law and the administration of it vastly benefits those who AREN’T minorities.
    The legislation regarding hate crimes wouldn’t exist if we lived in a society without racism. I suggest you educating yourself a little more on the inequality and oppression in our country before you start writing about something of which you are clearly completely ignorant.

    UMass and the five colleges have great classes on women’s studies and inequality in America (Anthro 205 would help you quite a lot)
    In the meantime, here are some links to help you get started:

    [These two in particular:
    http://thisisinjustice.tumblr.com/post/58908395658
    http://raniakhalek.com/2013/12/05/unarmed-man-shot-at-by-nypd-has-been-charged-with-assault-because-bullets-hit-bystanders/ ]

    http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-senior-high-teacher-gets-days-for-rape-of-student/article_b1f84190-ef23-5868-8799-b779c0421dc1.html
    http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/07/12/kim-ogrady-resume-gender-discrimination/
    http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/reports/ntds_summary.pdf
    http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2012/04/16/11391/the-top-10-facts-about-the-wage-gap/
    http://thisisinjustice.tumblr.com/post/62979273278/a-woman-from-the-audience-asks-why-were-there-so
    http://thisisinjustice.tumblr.com/post/76544290198/1-white-terrorists-are-called-gunmen-what-does
    http://thisisinjustice.tumblr.com/post/73299858260/alexknowsbestest-jamaicanfemmefatale

    Reply
  • U

    Umass SeniorMar 12, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    I find it very hard to believe tht you would understand what it is like to be part of the minority and this article demonstrates your ignorance. This is highly offensive and I would be embarrassed to have you represent our student body at UMass. I’m not sure how this article was approved but I really don’t think you deserve to be able to write for the school paper. The fact that you think it’s okay to minimize the struggles of minorities is just completele insulting. Maybe you should actually speak with those who have been subject to race discrimination instead of just assuming you understand. As someone who has experience being discriminated against because of my race I find it horrifying that a college educated person would attempt to say race discrimination isn’t abproblem. Seriously embarrased that this article will be associated with UMass.

    Reply
  • S

    Sophomore StudentMar 12, 2014 at 9:43 am

    This is why I am ashamed to go to school at UMASS.

    Reply
  • S

    SamMar 12, 2014 at 12:42 am

    Hi Stefan,

    While it is important that you noted here that there is no objective basis for the classification of race, I find that your overrall argument betrays your intention, if it is indeed to overcome discrimination.

    Race might not be real, but racial discrimination sure is. And it doesn’t take someone with an objective eye to see that.

    By the way, the law in this country (racial categorization excluded) is not objective. Precedent is created by public atmosphere at the time it is created.

    What I read here confuses the issue and just leads more people to believe we live in a postracial America.

    Reply
  • S

    Stefan HerlitzSep 6, 2013 at 12:41 am

    And here I was thinking the comments were moderated.
    You most certainly did not read my column at all, and I honestly thought that link was a joke at first due to its ridiculousness and obvious racism.

    Disclaimer to readers: please do not associate the link, or the ideas it represents, which the above user posted with my column.

    Reply