While the First Amendment established a relationship between religious minorities and the state that was beyond the reach of governmental authorities, the Constitution did not guarantee any citizenship rights to nonwhite races. It left decisions related to race to state and local governments. Consequently, racial minorities developed varying relations with the governing institutions of this country, depending on where and when they lived. They also could not define their place in America by fighting for their constitutional rights since it offered them no specific shield to guard against discrimination such as the protection that the First Amendment gave to religion; unlike religious freedom, racial equality was not part of America’s national narrative prior to the passage of civil rights legislation.

XREF: Contrast between First Amendment protections and absent racial protections parallels scholarly work on the Constitution's racial silences, e.g., coverage of the Three-Fifths Clause and 14th Amendment debates.

Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ Th…, loc. 289