Concealing Our Meaning From Ourselves: The Forgotten History of Discrimination

Abstract

Although I do not quarrel with the essence of Dean Griswold's thesis, I do have substantial problems with what I believe is the deemphasis he gives to the role of the law in addressing the problems of affirmative action. Clearly, his reasons for not treating the legal issues are not associated with his lack of understanding of those principles. Rather, I think that his article, whether intentionally or not, reflects the subtle but unmistakable shift in focus that our society has taken away from how to remedy the present effects of intentional and systematit discrimination against minorities and women to questions of how th.) economic and political pies of America ought to be split up, given tht: various competing claims upon limited resources; away from what is just to what will sell, what will pacify, and what will postpone possible confrontation over the allocation of scarce resources among various groups in our society.