Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
Rather than acting as a whitening agent, the law should reflect the natural (re)complexioning of society and adapt to the melting pot that is America. The term "(re)complexioning" is used because the idea that the complexion of America was white at the beginning is false. Prior to the "discovery" of America, native citizens were indeed more deeply complexioned than Whites. Any (re)complexioning of the law since, to reflect the colors of America, then, is just to resort to the recognition of factual premises unjustly rejected when America was usurped from those of color and denied to others of color after they themselves were usurped from their homelands. To explain the necessary (re)complexioning of the law urged here, this Essay will be divided into three parts. Part I summarizes the law as a bleaching agent. Part II briefly summarizes the role of the law for (re)complexioning. Finally, Part III examines the unique application of this (re)complexioning in First Amendment jurisprudence as is urged in this Essay.
Recommended Citation
48 Cal. W. L. Rev. 399 (2011).