Key Ideas to Know from: A Critique of “Our Constitution is Color-Blind

1. Discuss the Supreme Court’s color-blind constitutionalism that uses race to cover four distinct ideas: status-race, formal-race, historical-race, and culture race.  Be able to define each one.

Status-race is described as being used an "indicator of social status".
Formal-race is defined as "socially constructed formal categories" and hold no connections to social constructs such as "culture, education, wealth, or language".
Historical-race takes past accounts of "racial subordination".
Lastly, culture-race is said to describe "Black" as a reference to African-American.

2. Who is German comparative anatomist Blumenbach?  How did he classify race?
   He was the one who classified race into five different categories (Caucasian, Mongolian, Malay, American and Ethiopian) based on the structure of the skull. 
    
   

3. Provide two examples of the scientific legitimization of race.
(1) The use of physiognomy.

(2) The use of the past (ancestry).

4. What terms were used to justify the political status of black Americans?
  "Heathen", "infidel" and "negro".

5. In what year was the first recognizable slave code created?  In what state?
   1705; Virginia.

6. According to the article, what is the purpose of race? 
   The purpose of race is to serve as a method to categorize and help support hierarchies where they stand.

7. Color-blind constitutionalism implicitly adopts a particular understanding of race as objective and immutable, which may be less obvious than legislative enactments, but is no less significant.

8. Provide an example of a case whereby the Supreme Court used status-race, formal-race and historical race and cultural-race to render its decision..

Status-race; the example used in the reading was the Dred Scott v. Standford case. In this case, the ruling judge found that Blacks were indeed inferior and thus were not subjected to the same rights as whites. 
Formal-race; the example of this used in the reading was the Plessy v. Ferguson case which validated the separation of Blacks and whites (Jim Crow).
Historical-race; Brown v. Board of Education
Culture-race;  Metro Broadcsting, Inc. v FCC
 

9. Provide an example of assimilation and cultural genocide.

An example of assimilation and cultural genocide would be in the case of when Native Americans were forced to surrender their children over to Christian missionaries and were sent to boarding school to be "re-educated".

10. Provide an example of alternatives to color-blind constitutionalism.

 An example of an alternative to color-blind constitutionalism would be to revise the way race is approached and defined within law.