Christo van der Rheede of the FW de Klerk Foundation finds the descriptor “race law” (which he places in scare quotes) dubious – “emotionally explosive”, even – when applied to post-1994 legislation. Yet he readily speaks of “race-conscious law” without apparent discomfort.
It is concerning that several minutes of a recent televised debate was dedicated to discussing my work – by name – in my absence, but that aside: it is difficult to understand why the insertion of a single adjective (“conscious”) should transform an otherwise objectionable category of substantive law into an acceptable one.
The substance remains the same: law that treats a person’s race or skin-colour – something they had no say in determining – as a legally relevant fact.
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