Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2019
ISSN
0042-6601
Publisher
University of Virginia School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
For decades, literature has played a vital role in revealing weaknesses in law. The classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is no different. The long-revered work of fiction contains several key scenes that illuminate significant gaps in the analysis of one of our most celebrated decisions: Brown v. Board of Education, the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that state-mandated racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. In particular, the novel opens a pathway that enables its readers to visualize the full harms of white supremacy, which include not only the detrimental effects of experiencing discrimination for Blacks but also the dehumanizing effects of perpetrating discrimination, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, for Whites. More specifically, the book constructs a narrative from which society can begin to understand how the Brown Court defined the harms of discrimination too narrowly and, more so, how this limited understanding of the harms of discrimination—here, segregation—has unintentionally resulted in the development of anti-discrimination doctrine that is unable to lead us to true racial equality.
Recommended Citation
Angela Onwuachi-Willig,
Reconceptualizing the Harms of Discrimination: How Brown v. Board of Education Helped to Further White Supremacy
,
in
105
Virginia Law Review
343
(2019).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2850
Comments
Copyright investigation still needed