美國人一向自豪其擁有民主、自由、平等的傳統，美國亦以這些自由主義的價值作為其獨特的國家認同。然而，在現實上，美國人卻無法否認，該國歷史上對待少數民族的方式，踐踏這個國家所自豪的「美國傳統」或「美國精神」。對於美國國家認同與種族主義的關係，一般認為：美國歷史上對於少數民族的歧視與壓迫，是部分美國人背棄美國精神的結果。在這類解釋裡，美國國家認同是道德無暇的，與少數民族一樣，都是種族主義傷害的對象。 本文綜合法學與歷史學的研究方式，針對美國刑事司法體制對於弱勢族群之處置，探索美國國家認同、種族主義與司法正義之間的關係。本文發現：美國國家認同在種族問題上扮演曖昧的角色。一方面，在美國歷史中，國家認同經常成為種族主義的同義詞。透過對於正義與犯罪之定義的影響，國家認同成為壓迫少數民族的合理化依據。然而在另一方面，美國國家認同中的自由、平等等價值，亦是弱勢民族藉以反抗種族壓迫的利器。弱勢者要求主流社會必須依據美國精神，給予自由的保護，以及平等的尊重與待遇。換言之，美國的國家認同在種族議題上，同時具有壓迫性與解放性。即便在強調多元文化的今日，依然維持這樣的曖昧狀況。

Abstract America is widely recognized to be founded on liberal values. Nevertheless, in reality, there has been a systematic denial of these values in the American history, particularly in cases involving racial minorities. A conventional interpretation is that racist sentiments had overcome the conscience of Americans and caused the deviation of American national identity. Under this interpretation, the American national identity is morally innocent, standing squarely in opposition to racism. This paper is intended to demonstrate that, in the American history, American national identity had been standing firmly with racism. State-sponsored forms of national identity historically helped to distinguish members from others, and dictated how internal others (racially and culturally) were managed. But at the same time, American national identity was used by minorities to fight racism. Through defining crime and justice, the multidimensional American national identity has in fact performed substantial but ambiguous influences on the race issues even in the era of multiculturalism.