Race, Law, and Culture: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education – Austin Sarat Voordeelprijs

When it comes to race and racial issues these are strange times for all Americans. More than forty years afterBrown v. Board of Education put an end to segregation of the races by law, current debates about affirmative action, multiculturalism, and racial hate speech reveal persistent uncertainty about the place and meaning of race in American culture and the role of law in guaranteeing racial equality. Moreover, all sides in those debates claim to be the true heirs toBrown, even as they disagree vehemently…