Law Commons^™

The Color Of Money: How Our Broken Campaign Finance System Fuels Racial Inequality, Blair T. Page

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The laws upholding our campaign finance system are inadequate and under-enforced. These problems are felt disproportionately by African American voters. Election law experts agree that the structure and enforcement authority of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) severely limits the ability of the agency to achieve its goals. Several Supreme Court decisions have also limited the ability of Congress to control campaign contributions and expenditures. Tracking expenditures from corporations, groups, and individuals (to the extent possible), will show the link between favorable outcomes for these groups and their detrimental effects on African Americans. While closing racial disparities in wealth allows for …

Get Out: Structural Racism And Academic Terror, Renee Nicole Allen

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Released in 2017, Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed film Get Out explores the horrors of racism. The film’s plot involves the murder and appropriation of Black bodies for the benefit of wealthy, white people. After luring Black people to their country home, a white family uses hypnosis to paralyze victims and send them to the Sunken Place where screams go unheard. Black bodies are auctioned off to the highest bidder; the winner’s brain is transplanted into the prized Black body. Black victims are rendered passengers in their own bodies so that white inhabitants can obtain physical advantages and immortality.

Like Get …

Assessing The Racial Implications Of Ncaa Academic Measures, Timothy Davis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In 1983, the NCAA’s adoption of heightened initial eligibility standards for incoming intercollegiate athletes was met with applause and criticism. Proponents lauded the measure as a legitimate means of restoring academic integrity within intercollegiate athletics. Opponents questioned whether seemingly racially neutral eligibility standards had a disproportionately negative impact on African American athletes. It is against this backdrop that the Article examines the racial implications of the NCAA’s past and present academic standards.

These standards consist of initial eligibility rules, progress-toward-degree requirements, the graduation success rate, and academic progress rate, the latter two of which comprise the NCAA’s Academic Performance Program. …

Fulfilling Porter's Promise, Danielle Allyn

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Despite the Porter court’s reference to a “long tradition of according leniency to veterans,” in the criminal legal system, veterans are overrepresented on death rows across America, including Georgia’s. Most of these veterans come to death row with experiences of marginalization due to other aspects of their identity, such as race or mental disability.

This Article examines the cases of six men executed in Georgia, each with a history of military service, and each with experiences of disenfranchisement based on race and/or mental disability. At trial, each confronted legal risks that disproportionately place Black people and people with mental disabilities …

Transracial Adoptions In America: An Analysis Of The Role Of Racial Identity Among Black Adoptees And The Benefits Of Reconceptualizing Success Within Adoptions, Jessica M. Hadley

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Towards A Transnational Critical Race Theory In Education: Proposing Critical Race Third World Approaches To Education Policy, Steven L. Nelson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Scholars have applied Critical Race Theory in both domestic and international contexts; however, a theory on the transnational role of race and racism in education policy has not emerged. In this Article, I borrow from the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) to formulate Critical Race Third World Approaches to Education Policy (TWAEPCrit). In constructing this theory, I argue that Black Americans are in practice and lived experience treated as third world citizens, even as they reside in the United States. I prove the third world status of Black peoples in the …

Black Hair(Tage): Career Liability Or Civil Rights Issue?, Kaili Moss

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.