Is "race" (and its manifestations) is a protected class? I'm not sure what the law says. If so technically you're not supposed to use it, because the 14th amend

Is "race" (and its manifestations) is a protected class? I'm not sure what the law says. If so technically you're not supposed to use it, because the 14th amendment (which is what AA is based on) mandates "equal protection." This is somewhat confused. The equal protection clause limits what state governments can do. There’s a doctrine interpreting it called suspect classifications, and race is the most important of these. (Gender is quasi-suspect.) There’s also a series of federal and state civil rights laws that regulate the private sector. These laws create protected classes, of which race is one.