Law Commons^™

Reform, Retrench, Repeat: The Campaign Against Critical Race Theory, Through The Lens Of Critical Race Theory, Vivian E. Hamilton

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

The protest movement ignited by the 2020 murder of George Floyd was of a scale unprecedented in U.S. history. The movement raised the nation’s consciousness of racial injustices and spurred promises—and the beginnings—of justice-oriented reform. Reform and racial progress, however, have rarely been linear over the course of U.S. history. Instead, they typically engender resistance and retrenchment. The response to the current justice movement is no exception. One manifestation of the retrenchment has been a rush by states to enact legislation curtailing race-related education in government workplaces and in public schools, colleges, and universities.

These legislative measures purport to prevent …

Foreword, A. Benjamin Spencer

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

No abstract provided.

#Blacklivesmatter: From Protest To Policy, Jamillah Bowman Williams, Naomi Mezey, Lisa Singh

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

We find that the protests of 2020 did indeed begin a paradigm shift in the social awareness of racialized police violence, and this important and significant social change has in turn already inspired political change and some degree of legal and policy change. However, the movement remains in a precarious position and it is uncertain how enduring these changes will be. While many state legislators and local officials have responded to the protests with policy reforms, policy action at the federal level is mostly stalled. In addition, it is unclear whether the state and local policy changes will lead to …