Race and Class Discourse from an Ivory Tower in Connecticut

State Sen. Rob Sampson and House Republican leader Vincent Candelora are both wrong about the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action ruling and their belief that these kinds of issues should be decided in the legislature. When it comes to ensuring the rights of historically marginalized racial and ethnic minorities, elected representative bodies have been notoriously slow to take action if they take any action at all. It is safe to say that throughout much of our nation’s history, elected officials, especially at the state level, have more likely been the problem rather than the solution when it comes to dealing with racial discrimination and inequality. Racial and ethnic minorities have turned to state and federal courts precisely because lawmakers — historically, both Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government — have often failed to protect the most basic and fundamental rights guaranteed or belonging to a person by the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment was introduc

As a member of a historically oppressed group, without a doubt, my favorite Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are the 13th (freed the slaves), 14th (introduced equal protection under the law) and the 15th (guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race). Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they form the foundation of not only my freedom as a Black man living in a nation shaped since its founding by White Supremacy, but the freedom of all Americans either directly or indirectly. Close behind those three post-Civil War Amendments and seminal pieces of legislation passed during the century-long Black Freedom struggle, my next favorite is the 1st Amendment:   Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The press clause ackn