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Full-Text Articles in Law and Race
Fee Simple Failures: Rural Landscapes And Race, Jessica A. Shoemaker
Fee Simple Failures: Rural Landscapes And Race, Jessica A. Shoemaker
Michigan Law Review
Property law’s roots are rural. America pursued an early agrarian vision that understood real property rights as instrumental to achieving a country of free, engaged citizens who cared for their communities and stewarded their physical place in it. But we have drifted far from this ideal. Today, American agriculture is industrialized, and rural communities are in decline. The fee simple ownership form has failed every agrarian objective but one: the maintenance of white landownership. For it was also embedded in the original American experiment that land ownership would be racialized for the benefit of its white citizens, through acts of …
Man’S Best Friend? How Dogs Have Been Used To Oppress African Americans, Shontel Stewart
Man’S Best Friend? How Dogs Have Been Used To Oppress African Americans, Shontel Stewart
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
The use of dogs as tools of oppression against African Americans has its roots in slavery and persists today in everyday life and police interactions. Due to such harmful practices, African Americans are not only disproportionately terrorized by officers with dogs, but they are also subject to instances of misplaced sympathy, illsuited laws, and social exclusion in their communities. Whether extreme and violent or subtle and pervasive, the use of dogs in oppressive acts is a critical layer of racial bias in the United States that has consistently built injustices that impede social and legal progress. By recognizing this pattern …
Racial Purges, Robert L. Tsai
Racial Purges, Robert L. Tsai
Michigan Law Review
Review of Beth Lew-Williams' The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America.
The Outcome Of Influence: Hitler’S American Model And Transnational Legal History, Mary L. Dudziak
The Outcome Of Influence: Hitler’S American Model And Transnational Legal History, Mary L. Dudziak
Michigan Law Review
Review of James Q. Whitman's Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law.
Reassessing American Democracy: The Enduring Challenge Of Racial Exclusion, Johanna Kalb, Didi Kuo
Reassessing American Democracy: The Enduring Challenge Of Racial Exclusion, Johanna Kalb, Didi Kuo
Michigan Law Review Online
American democracy is in trouble. Since the 2016 election, a sizable literature has developed that focuses on diagnosing and assessing the state of American democracy, most of which concludes that our system of government is in decline.[2] These authors point to the rise in party polarization, the increasingly bipartisan abandonment of the norms of the democratic process, the rise of populism, the degradation of the public sphere, and the proliferation of gerrymandered districts and voting restrictions to illustrate the breakdown. And while attributing varying levels of significance to these factors, a common theme is that American democracy, once stable, is …
The Keyes To Reclaiming The Racial History Of The Roberts Court, Tom I. Romero, Ii
The Keyes To Reclaiming The Racial History Of The Roberts Court, Tom I. Romero, Ii
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Article advocates for a fundamental re-understanding about the way that the history of race is understood by the current Supreme Court. Represented by the racial rights opinions of Justice John Roberts that celebrate racial progress, the Supreme Court has equivocated and rendered obsolete the historical experiences of people of color in the United States. This jurisprudence has in turn reified the notion of color-blindness, consigning racial discrimination to a distant and discredited past that has little bearing to how race and inequality is experienced today. The racial history of the Roberts Court is centrally informed by the context and …
Racial Templates, Richard Delgado, Juan F. Perea
Racial Templates, Richard Delgado, Juan F. Perea
Michigan Law Review
This riveting tale of greed, international skullduggery, and behind-the-scenes heroism recounts the events that led up to America’s “wicked war” with Mexico. It depicts how expansionist ambitions in high circles fueled jingoistic propaganda (pp. 25, 34–35, 58), fed a public eager for national muscle flexing (pp. 57, 103, 108), and set the stage for a military skirmish in a disputed region between two rivers (pp. 75–77, 95, 100, 138) that provided the pretext for a savage and short-lived military campaign against the weak new nation of Mexico in which the U.S. Army, under General Scott, marched all the way to …
Yick Wo At 125: Four Simple Lessons For The Contemporary Supreme Court, Marie A. Failinger
Yick Wo At 125: Four Simple Lessons For The Contemporary Supreme Court, Marie A. Failinger
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
The 125th anniversary of Yick Wo v. Hopkins is an important opportunity to recognize the pervasive role of law in oppressive treatment of Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is also a good opportunity for the Supreme Court to reflect on four important lessons gleaned from Yick Wo. First, the Court should never lend justification to the evil of class discrimination, even if it has to decline to rule in a case. Second, where there is persistent discrimination against a minority group, the Court must be similarly persistent in fighting it. Third, the Court needs to take …
Race And Constitutional Law Casebooks: Recognizing The Proslavery Constitution, Juan F. Perea
Race And Constitutional Law Casebooks: Recognizing The Proslavery Constitution, Juan F. Perea
Michigan Law Review
Federalist No. 54 shows that part of Madison's public defense of the Constitution included the defense of some of its proslavery provisions. Madison and his reading public were well aware that aspects of the Constitution protected slavery. These aspects of the Constitution were publicly debated in the press and in state ratification conventions. Just as the Constitution's protections for slavery were debated at the time of its framing and ratification, the relationship between slavery and the Constitution remains a subject of debate. Historians continue to debate the centrality of slavery to the Constitution. The majority position among historians today appears …
Racial Cartels, Daria Roithmayr
Racial Cartels, Daria Roithmayr
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Article argues that we can better understand the dynamic of historical racial exclusion if we describe it as the anti-competitive work of "racial cartels." We can define racial cartels to include a range of all-White groups - homeowners' associations, school districts, trade unions, real estate boards and political parties - who gained signficant social, economic and political profit from excluding on the basis of race. Far from operating on the basis of irrational animus, racial cartels actually derived significant profit from racial exclusion. By creating racially segmented housing markets, for example, exclusive White homeowners' associations enjoyed higher property values …
"The Prejudice Of Caste": The Misreading Of Justice Harlan And The Ascendency Of Anticlassificaiton, Scott Grinsell
"The Prejudice Of Caste": The Misreading Of Justice Harlan And The Ascendency Of Anticlassificaiton, Scott Grinsell
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Article reconsiders the familiar reading of Justice Harlan's dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson as standing for the principle of constitutional colorblindness by examining the significance of Harlan's use of the metaphor "caste" in the opinion. By overlooking Harlan's invocation of "caste," it argues that conservative proponents of anticlassification have reclaimed the opinion for "colorblindness," and buried a powerful statement of the antisubordination principle that is at the heart of our equality law. The Article begins by examining the emergence of a reading of the opinion as articulating a view of equality law based in anticlassification. The Article then returns …
Let's Not Jump To Conclusions: Approaching Felon Disenfranchisement Challenges Under The Voting Rights Act, Thomas G. Varnum
Let's Not Jump To Conclusions: Approaching Felon Disenfranchisement Challenges Under The Voting Rights Act, Thomas G. Varnum
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 invalidates voting qualifications that deny the right to vote on account of race or color. This Article confronts a split among the federal appellate courts concerning whether felons may rely on Section 2 when challenging felon disenfranchisement laws. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allows felon disenfranchisement challenges under Section 2; however, the Second and Eleventh Circuits foresee unconstitutional consequences and thus do not. After discussing the background of voting rights jurisprudence, history of felon disenfranchisement laws, and evolution of Section 2, this Article identifies the points of contention among the …
We Need Inquire Further: Normative Sterotypes, Hasidic Jews, And The Civil Rights Act Of 1866, William Kaplowitz
We Need Inquire Further: Normative Sterotypes, Hasidic Jews, And The Civil Rights Act Of 1866, William Kaplowitz
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
According to modern Supreme Court opinions, The Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibits only "discrimination [against members of protected groups] solely because of their ancestry or ethnic characteristics." The Court refers to this type of discrimination as 'racial animus.' In the 1987 case Shaare Tefila Congregation v. CobbJews were recognized as a protected ethnic group under these statutes, but the Supreme Court also reaffirmed that The Civil Rights Act only prohibits 'ethnic' or 'ancestral' discrimination. The Act does not encompass religious discrimination. Yet, despite the Supreme Court's rulings, the district courts held that both Rabbi LeBlanc-Sternberg's and Mr. Singers' allegations …
Felon Disenfrachisement Laws: Partisan Politics In The Legislatures, Jason Belmont Conn
Felon Disenfrachisement Laws: Partisan Politics In The Legislatures, Jason Belmont Conn
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This examination of the institutional changes to state legislatures, synthesized with an analysis of the handling of felon disenfranchisement laws by state legislatures, presents a troubling realization about the law today: in the twenty-first century, partisan politics moderates decisions about even the most basic and fundamental principles of democracy. This Note suggests that because state legislators follow their party leadership and position, a state's traditional treatment of racial minorities, geographic location, and even ideology are not the strongest indicators of a state's disenfranchisement laws. Rather, partisan politics drives changes to the state laws governing felon voter eligibility.
Vigilante Racism: The De-Americanization Of Immigrant America, Bill Ong Hing
Vigilante Racism: The De-Americanization Of Immigrant America, Bill Ong Hing
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Sadly, the de-Americanization process is capable of reinventing itself generation after generation. We have seen this exclusionary process aimed at those of Jewish, Asian, Mexican, Haitian, and other descent throughout the nation's history. De-Americanization is not simply xenophobia, because more than fear of foreigners is at work. This is a brand of nativism cloaked in a Euro-centric sense of America that combines hate and racial profiling. Whenever we go through a period of de-Americanization like what is currently happening to South Asians, Arabs, Muslim Americans, and people like Wen Ho Lee-a whole new generation of Americans sees that exclusion and …
"Just Like One Of The Family": Domestic Violence Paradigms And Combating On-The-Job Violence Against Household Workers In The United States, Kristi L. Graunke
"Just Like One Of The Family": Domestic Violence Paradigms And Combating On-The-Job Violence Against Household Workers In The United States, Kristi L. Graunke
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article argues that the immense problem of on-the-job abuse experienced by domestic workers demands a multifaceted plan of attack. The proposed responses specifically draw upon the capacities, strengths, and resources of women, particularly comparatively privileged women, as both activists and employers of domestic workers. By describing the circumstances of domestic work in the United States from the nation's inception to the present, Part I demonstrates the prevalence and intractability of on-the-job physical and sexual abuse and argues that other women, as employers of domestic workers, have historically played a complex role in participating in, condoning, or failing to acknowledge …
No Black Names On The Letterhead? Efficient Discrimination And The South African Legal Profession, Lisa R. Pruitt
No Black Names On The Letterhead? Efficient Discrimination And The South African Legal Profession, Lisa R. Pruitt
Michigan Journal of International Law
Although there have long been black lawyers in South Africa, during apartheid only a handful joined the ranks of the country's large commercial firms. Now, in the post-apartheid period, these firms are keenly aware of a range of economic and political incentives to hire black attorneys, and most are doing so at a record pace. Very few black attorneys, however, are enduring the path to partnership in these firms. Based on more than seventy-five interviews conducted in South Africa in 1999 and 2000, this Article both documents and critically examines the reasons for black attrition. While firms' incentives to integrate …
Purchasing While Black: How Courts Condone Discrimination In The Marketplace, Matt Graves
Purchasing While Black: How Courts Condone Discrimination In The Marketplace, Matt Graves
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Given the sweeping language of § 1981 and 1982, it cannot be that sellers of goods can engage in intentional discrimination, so long as they make relatively minor attempts to cover it up. By exploring the interaction between substantive law, procedural law, legal culture, and real-world context, Graves seeks to demonstrate that judges cannot offer any legal or practical justification for heightened pleading requirements in § 1981 and 1982 actions. Through this argument, a conclusion is reached that § 1981 and 1982 plaintiffs must be given the same opportunity to litigate their claims that virtually all other plaintiffs are given. …
Puerto Rico: Cultural Nation, American Colony, Pedro A. Malavet
Puerto Rico: Cultural Nation, American Colony, Pedro A. Malavet
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This Article articulates a theory of Puerto Rican cultural nationhood that is largely based on ethnicity. In linking ethnicity and citizenship, it is imperative, however, to avoid the evils of ethnic strife and balkanization, while celebrating rather than imposing difference; community consciousness cannot degenerate into fascism.
Facing History, Facing Ourselves: Eric Yamamoto And The Quest For Justice, Robert S. Change
Facing History, Facing Ourselves: Eric Yamamoto And The Quest For Justice, Robert S. Change
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Review of Interracial Justice: Conflict and Reconciliation in Post-Civil Rights America by Eric Yamamoto
Affirmative Action: Where Is It Coming From And Where Is It Going?, Denise Page Hood
Affirmative Action: Where Is It Coming From And Where Is It Going?, Denise Page Hood
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
A review of We Wont Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action by Charles R. Lawrence III & Mari J. Matsuda
In Sisterhood, Lisa C. Ikemoto
In Sisterhood, Lisa C. Ikemoto
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
A review of Where Is Your Body? by Mari Matsuda
History's Stories, Stephan Landsman
History's Stories, Stephan Landsman
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Stories of Scottsboro by James Goodman
Civil Liberties And Civil War: The Great Emancipator As Civil Libertarian, Paul Finkelman
Civil Liberties And Civil War: The Great Emancipator As Civil Libertarian, Paul Finkelman
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties by Mark E. Neely, Jr.
Protection Of Civil Rights: A Constitutional Mandate For The Federal Government, Julius Chambers
Protection Of Civil Rights: A Constitutional Mandate For The Federal Government, Julius Chambers
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Federal Law and Southern Order: Racial Violence and Constitutional Conflict in the Post-Brown South by Michal Belknap
The Naacp's Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education, Robert L. Carter
The Naacp's Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education, Robert L. Carter
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The NAACP's Legal Strategy Against Segregated Education, 1925-1950 by Mark Tushnet
To Set The Law In Motion: The Freedmen's Bureau And The Legal Rights Of Blacks, 1865-1868, Michigan Law Review
To Set The Law In Motion: The Freedmen's Bureau And The Legal Rights Of Blacks, 1865-1868, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of To Set the Law in Motion: The Freedmen's Bureau and the Legal Rights of Blacks, 1865-1868 by Donald G. Nieman
South Africa: Using The Law To Establish And Maintain A Pigmentocracy, Rex S. Heinke
South Africa: Using The Law To Establish And Maintain A Pigmentocracy, Rex S. Heinke
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Human Rights and the South African Legal Order by John Dugard