Anti-discrimination laws can rhetorically shield a state from charges of racism

Evidence

Here, conveniently, could be found a way to stave off the charge of racism (though neo-Nazi groups from across the region have migrated to Argentina’s vigorous protection of the Internet’s virtual freedom of expression): “My society is against racism, so I cannot possibly (have) be(en) for it either. ‘Our’ anti-discrimination laws, policies, and practices provide evidence of the anti-discrimination commitment.” How can one discriminate if there are anti-discrimination laws and policies in place? The appropriate policies without the people in question become the projected yardstick of evasive racelessness as social commitment. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1170

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how performative anti-racism legislation functions as reputational cover for racial structural inequalities — the policy becoming the excuse rather than the remedy.
• XREF: Connects to the concept of evasive racelessness and colorblindness-as-ideology elsewhere in Goldberg’s work and to critical race theory generally. — connects to: One segregation-era judge framed resistance as justifying policy through race-neutral socioeconomic language. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 102