Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law and Race Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law and Race

Orientalism Revisited In Asylum And Refugee Claims, Susan M. Akram Jan 2000

Orientalism Revisited In Asylum And Refugee Claims, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the stereotyping of Islam both by advocates and academics in refugee rights advocacy. The article looks at a particular aspect of this stereotyping, which can be seen as ‘neo-Orientalism’ occurring in the asylum and refugee context, particularly affecting women, and the damage that it does to refugee rights both in and outside the Arab and Muslim world. The article points out the dangers of neo-orientalism in framing refugee law issues, and asks for a more thoughtful and analytical approach by Western refugee advocates and academics on the panoply of Muslim attitudes and Islamic thought affecting applicants for …


Colorism: A Darker Shade Of Pale, Taunya Lovell Banks Jan 2000

Colorism: A Darker Shade Of Pale, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, Professor Banks argues that colorism, skin tone discrimination against dark-skinned but not light-skinned blacks, constitutes a form of race-based discrimination. Skin tone discrimination coexists with more traditional forms of race discrimination that impact all blacks without regard to skin tone and phenotype, yet courts seem unwilling to recognize this point. Professor Banks uses employment discrimination cases to illustrate some courts' willingness to acknowledge subtler forms of race-based discrimination, like skin tone discrimination, for white ethnic and Latina/o plaintiffs, but not for black plaintiffs. The inability of courts to fashion coherent approaches to colorism claims involving black claimants …


Opening Remarks: Reclaiming Yesterday's Future, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw Jan 2000

Opening Remarks: Reclaiming Yesterday's Future, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

Good morning colleagues, friends, and special guests of the Symposium. I have the unenviable task of welcoming you to the UCLA School of Law this morning, a task that under current circumstances carries with it for me quite a few mixed emotions.' I have struggled mightily over how I might convey to you that although my heart is heavy this morning, I am very pleased to see each of you. It is rather like opening the door to welcome close friends into your home which is in a state of utter disarray. Things are strewn all about, you look harried …


Evolving Indigenous Law: Navajo Marriage--Cultural Traditions And Modern Challenges, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez Jan 2000

Evolving Indigenous Law: Navajo Marriage--Cultural Traditions And Modern Challenges, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

Tribal regulation of marriage is an example of tribal government and tribal court using the legal system to reclaim traditional values and to resist (at least in part) the dominant values imposed on the Navajo Nation. Identity as Dine (the Navajos term to refer to themselves) is based on clan affiliations, which are determined by blood and marriage. Marriage has been an important and sacred institution in Navajo tradition. The Navajo Supreme Court and the Tribal Council have attempted to find a substantive law of marriage that respects traditional Navajo culture while meeting contemporary needs of Navajo people. The Navajo …


Silence And Silencing: Their Centripetal And Centrifugal Forces In Cultural Expression, Pedagogy And Legal Discourse, Margaret E. Montoya Jan 2000

Silence And Silencing: Their Centripetal And Centrifugal Forces In Cultural Expression, Pedagogy And Legal Discourse, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

This article uses Critical Race Theory and LatCrit Theory in its analysis, methodologies, and purpose. I seek to disrupt silences around race and to provide the knowledge and skills for effective work on racial equity and justice. Language and voice have been subjects of great interest to scholars working in the areas of Critical Race Theory and Latina/o Critical Legal Theory. Silence, a counterpart of voice, has not, however, been well theorized. This Article is an invitation to attend to silence and silencing. The first part of the Article argues that one's use of silence is an aspect of communication …


O.J. As A Tale Of 2 Operas (Essays On The Trials Of The Century), Sherri L. Burr Jan 2000

O.J. As A Tale Of 2 Operas (Essays On The Trials Of The Century), Sherri L. Burr

Faculty Scholarship

The theme of this essay is that blacks and whites reacted differently to the O.J. criminal verdicts because they watched two different dramas unfold over the course of the trial. Many whites saw O.J. as the archetype of Otello, the heroic Moor who came to live within the midst of Europeans and married the lovely Desdemona, only to kill her in a jealous rage after she befriended another man. Many blacks perceived O.J.'s trial as a modernized Porgy and Bess, which features white police officers abusing power when they jail an innocent person because they are too lazy to search …


The Uses Of History In Struggles For Racial Justice: Colonizing The Past And Managing Memory, Katherine M. Franke Jan 2000

The Uses Of History In Struggles For Racial Justice: Colonizing The Past And Managing Memory, Katherine M. Franke

Faculty Scholarship

In this Commentary, Professor Katherine Franke offers an analysis on Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic's California's Racial History and Constitutional Rationales for Race-Conscious Decision Making in Higher Education and Rebecca Tsosie's Sacred Obligations: Intercultural Justice and the Discourse of Treaty Rights. These two Articles, she observes, deploy history for the purposes of justifying certain contemporary normative claims on behalf of peoples of color: affirmative action in higher education for Delgado and Stefancic, and sovereignty rights for native peoples in Tsosie's case. Franke explores the manner in which stories of past conquest and discrimination contribute to contemporary conceptions of racial …


Street Stops And Broken Windows: Terry, Race And Disorder In New York City, Jeffery Fagan, Garth Davies Jan 2000

Street Stops And Broken Windows: Terry, Race And Disorder In New York City, Jeffery Fagan, Garth Davies

Faculty Scholarship

Patterns of "stop and frisk" activity by police across New York City neighborhoods reflect competing theories of aggressive policing. "Broken Windows" theory suggest that neighborhoods with greater concentration of physical and social disorder should evidence higher stop and frisk activity, especially for "quality of life" crimes. However, although disorder theory informs quality of life policing strategies, patterns of stop and frisk activity suggest that neighborhood characteristics such as racial composition, poverty levels, and extent of social disorganization are stronger predictors of race- and crime-specific stops. Accordingly, neighborhood "street stop" activity reflects competing assumptions and meanings of policing strategy. Furthermore, looking …