Reverse Discrimination and Other Racial Projects

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services abandoned historical context when assessing discrimination allegations, thus clearing remaining obstacles to reverse discrimination lawsuits. Reverse discrimination claims challenge equal protection jurisprudence, presenting whites as victims of racial subordination in claims that can be difficult to adjudicate if historical context is no longer a litmus test. Reverse discrimination claims also function as a white racial project—an attempt to represent and explain white racial identity in ways that redistribute societal resources to reflect a racial hierarchy that still benefits whites. A white racial project, however, is not unique. Rather, all racial groups are engaged in racial projects that interact and negotiate racial positioning in the United States. Neither inherently good nor bad, racial projects can move us closer to or further from a multiracial democracy depending on whether they disrupt or further embed racial hierarchy. Examination of reverse discrimination suits must interrogate them as white racial projects, while also considering the benefit of explicitly recognizing and engaging the multiple racial projects operating in American society. Explicit engagement makes it easier to identify the interests of some racial groups that are vindicated at a cost to other racial groups, to facilitate consensus on what can and cannot be defended in terms of those tradeoffs, and to identify the proper forums, if not courts, for resolving the competing claims of racial projects.