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The United States is dogged by racism and racial disparities in income, wealth, health, education and criminal justice. Philosophers disagree on what kind of politics is needed to address this problem. Do we pursue race-specific remedies to undo racial inequality, or do we assume the permanence of racism and opt for non-race-specific remedies in pursuit of a more egalitarian society? In 'A Realistic Blacktopia' political philosopher Derrick Darby challenges the 'small-tent' approach by examining US Supreme Court cases on education and voting rights, arguing that they hold general lessons about the limits of racial politics.

Some antebellum critics of the infamous Dred Scott "blacks have no rights" thesis suggested that this view resulted from a failure to appreciate that the humanity of blacks bestowed rights on them too. One plausible explanation for why many defenders of slavery and black subordination rejected this argument, which I shall develop in this paper, is that the prevailing political ideology of antebellum America contained a substantive conception of rights possession as well as well–entrenched allegations of black inferiority that were exploited to render the "blacks have no rights" thesis conceptually unproblematic. Elucidating the logic of arguments for and against the 'blacks have no rights' thesis will contribute to a broader understanding of the bittersweet legacy of rights discourse in American political thought.

AbstractIn this essay we argue that the ideology of colorblind justice has made resisting the retreat from public school desegregation a hard sell in postracial America. We do not believe that desegregation is the silver bullet for solving all the problems with public education. Nor do we believe that it alone can close the racial achievement gap. Yet there is convincing evidence regarding the potential benefits of desegregation and evidence on its negative consequences is weak. Therefore we believe that it is a policy still worth pursuing. Our hope is that by casting light on the anatomy of colorblind justice and its limits we can contribute to ongoing efforts to ensure that desegregation remains in the conversation about how to address the unfinished business of racial justice.

Introduction: What school leaders need to know -- The racial achievement gap -- The color of mind: constructing racial differences in intellect, character, and conduct -- The color of schooling: constructing the racial achievement gap -- Voices of dissent: dispelling an inglorious fallacy -- "A tangle of pathology": the color of mind takes a cultural turn -- What schools cannot fix: poverty, inequality, and segregation -- Old poison in new bottles: how the color of mind thrives in schools and affects achievement -- Why we sort kids in school -- Unjust schools: why the origins of the achievement gap matter