The Case for Race

Americans are classified by race and ethnicity for a wide-variety of reasons. The United States federal government (usually through executive agencies) collects data on race and ethnicity and provide that data to the public. Lawyers commonly use race and ethnicity categories and race and ethnicity data to both prosecute and defend against discrimination cases.

Race has been poorly understood throughout America's history. Over the course of American history, race has also proven to be a changing concept. Once thought of as a collection of distinct biological or anthropological groups, race is now considered to be a vaguely constructed social construct with an occasional biological correlation. A federal court in the Eastern District of New York made the following statement: