Both self-identification and actuality requirements shift legal focus from discriminators’ attitudes to victims’ identity

Evidence

However, there is something that misperception cases share with the cases here. They highlight that making the question of how an individual or a group self-identify a concern in racial discrimination cases can distract from a central factor of what leads to racial discrimination: racial beliefs and perceptions by others. Similar to the actuality requirement, the self-identifi­ cation requirement shifts the focus from the racial attitudes of discriminators and their role in perpetuating the racialization and discrimination of the victim group to the identity of the victim. — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 75

Misperception cases are of course different from the cases discussed in this article given. In misperception cases, there is a lack of correlation between the self-identified racial identity of the plaintiff and the protected attribute but both identities may well fall within the meaning of the protected attribute. In the cases discussed here, the lack of self-identification with the racialized group identity means that the identity is not seen as a protected attribute at all. However, there is something that misperception cases share with the cases here. They highlight that making the question of how an individual or a group self-identify a concern in racial discrimination cases can distract from a central factor of what leads to racial discrimination: racial beliefs and perceptions by others. Similar to the actuality requirement, the self-identifi­ cation requirement shifts the focus from the racial attitudes of discriminators and their role in perpetuating the racialization and discrimination of the victim group to the identity of the victim. — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 75

Categorization

• XREF: Mechanism claim: the doctrinal focus, not just outcome, is what the legal regime shapes — relevant to whether re-racialization moves material outcomes or only the symbolic frame of adjudication. — connects to: Racial identity has multiple dimensions that statutes fail to specify — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 70; Courts deny Muslims race discrimination protection absent proof of self-unification. — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 55; Racial discrimination can precede and constitute a group’s own racialized self-understanding — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 66 (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the legal question in the reading purpose about misperception-based discrimination and the protected-vs-unprotected category issue this article is built around.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 75