Racism has been an been the issue that has troubled this country’s existence. Indeed, from its early beginnings till present day, race and race matters (Bell, 1989, 1993; West, 1994) have been and continue to be a powerful element in this country. Interestingly, one venue where race issues have been addressed and fought over has been this country’s judicial system. In fact, for close to two hundred years, it could be argued that the courts facilitated and sustained the marginalization of non-whites in this country. Two prominent 19th century court cases that set the foundation for said marginalization were the Dred Scott v Sandford and Plessy v Ferguson cases, both highlighting this country’s de jure segregation laws. Indeed, sociologist Joe…show more content… According to legal scholars Crenshaw and her colleagues (1996), “ . . . our dissatisfaction with CLS stemmed from its failure to come to terms with the particularity of race, and with the specifically race character of ‘social interests’ in the racialized interest” (p. xxvi). Moreover, another legal scholar, Harlon L. Dalton (1996), argued, “We are not unmindful of fact that there are, within the CLS literature and in practice as well, instances of concern for the needs of people of color, albeit usually without recourse to our own ‘take’ on those needs” (p. 82). In short, the lack of prominence of race and inclusion of “voices” from people of color in CLS (Dalton, 1995; Crenshaw et al., 1995; Yosso, 2005) led to the third and present important movement—critical race…show more content… Alternatively, other scholars situate CRT within four tenets: (1) racism is normal, (2) interest convergence, (3) historical context, and (4) narrative (Taylor, 2009).
In addition, CRT pushes to confront racial ideologies like colorblindness, neutrality, meritocracy, and white privilege (Bell, 1992; Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Gotanda, 1996; Crenshaw 1988). A closer examination on colorblindness demonstrates why it is a major focus in CRT. In their critique of colorblindness theory, sociologist Omi & Winant (1994) identify how the color-blind racial policy enabled and empowered members from the white society, “ . . . to rationalize racial injustice as a supposedly natural outcomes of group attributes in competition” (p. 70). Also, Bonilla-Silva (2010), another sociologist, maintains that the relationship between colorblindness and racism helps protect and hide racist principles. While critical theorists, Giroux & Giroux (2004) identify color-blindness in the context of conservative’s commitment to the historical denial of repression of the black population. At its core, CRT desires to identify and transform both historical and present-day racial discrimination (Crenshaw et al., 1996; Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). The rise of CRT in legal studies has been instrumental—and necessary—towards the direction of transformational