George Hull (University of Cape Town) ‘Inequality of Opportunity as Accessory After the Fact to Past Racism’

Racist injustice—e.g., unjust racial discrimination by state institutions—not only is morally wrong in itself, but also can give rise to further distinct race-related ills. It can damage relations between individuals, making society-members less likely to relate to one another on an equal footing. What’s more, it can adversely affect the moral character of society's basic structure. In this talk, I explore how past racist injustice against a societal group can be an aggravating factor with regard to the present injustice of unequal opportunities.  

To the extent that a group's position of disadvantage is a consequence of racist injustice perpetrated by society against members of that group in the past, the group's disadvantaged position is not only a failure of social justice in society's current structure but also a wrongful harm which calls for redress. By failing to equalise opportunities for the current generation, society—and its agent, the state—becomes an accomplice to the racist injustice of the past, as it increases the extent of wrongful harm which results from that injustice. A concept from criminal law, accessory after the fact, can constructively be used in an extended sense to elucidate this state of affairs. Acknowledging that inequality of opportunity in the present may be not only an injustice in itself but also an accessory after the fact to past racist injustices enables us to explain why unequal opportunities are (other things equal) more morally objectionable when they are along racial lines due to past racist discrimination. It also supplies a justification for prioritising equalisation of opportunities between racialised groups in such cases.  

Inequality of opportunity as an accessory after the fact to past racism exemplifies the manner in which past racist injustice can reach into the present, altering the moral character of present actions and states of affairs, even if no racist motive informs society-members' actions today. 

Contact Suzanne Whitten (suzanne.whitten@qub.ac.uk) for link.