Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Fairness In The Exceptions: Trusting Juries On Matters Of Race, Virginia Weeks

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Implicit bias research indicates that despite our expressly endorsed values, Americans share a pervasive bias disfavoring Black Americans and favoring White Americans. This bias permeates legislative as well as judicial decision-making, leading to the possibility of verdicts against Black defendants that are tainted with racial bias. The Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado provides an ex post remedy for blatant racism that impacts jury verdicts, while jury nullification provides an ex ante remedy by empowering jurors to reject convicting Black defendants when to do so would reinforce racially biased laws. Both remedies exist alongside a trend limiting the …

Leveraging Social Science Expertise In Immigration Policymaking, Ming H. Chen

NULR Online

The longstanding uncertainty about how policymakers should grapple with social science demonstrating racism persists in the modern administrative state. This Essay examines the uses and misuses of social science and expertise in immigration policymaking. More specifically, it highlights three immigration policies that dismiss social scientific findings and expertise as part of presidential and agency decision-making: border control, crime control, and extreme vetting of refugees to prevent terrorism. The Essay claims that these rejections of expertise undermine both substantive and procedural protections for immigrants and undermine important functions of the administrative state as a curb on irrationality in policymaking. It concludes …

The Exceptional Negro: Racism, White Privilege And The Lie Of Respectability Politics, Traci Ellis

Publications & Research

Overwhelmingly, black folks have close encounters on a regular basis with being marginalized, insulted, dismissed and discriminated against. It is the natural consequence of still being considered little more than a Negro in this country. Especially for the “Exceptional Negroes.” But, as we will see, the truth is that even with our exceptionalism, we are still just “Negroes” to white America and in case we forget that, they will swiftly remind us.

Prisoner's Dilemma—Exhausted Without A Place Of Rest(Itution): Why The Prison Litigation Reform Act's Exhaustion Requirement Needs To Be Amended, Ryan Lefkowitz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) passed in 1996 in an effort to curb litigation from prisoners. The exhaustion requirement of the PLRA requires prisoners to fully exhaust any administrative remedies available to them before filing a lawsuit concerning any aspect of prison life. If a prisoner fails to do so, the lawsuit is subject to dismissal. The exhaustion requirement applies to all types of prisoner lawsuits, from claims filed for general prison conditions to excessive force and civil rights violations. It has been consistently and aggressively applied by the courts, blocking prisoners’ lawsuits from ever going to trial. Attempts …

Trapped In The Shackles Of America's Criminal Justice System, Shristi Devu

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Newsroom: Have We Outgrown Brown? 02-06-2018, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

A Painful History : Symbols Of The Confederacy: A Conversation About The Tension Between Preserving History And Declaring Contemporary Values 1-19-2018, Michael M. Bowden

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: A Painful History 1-19-2018, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

On The Permanence Of Racial Injustice And The Possibility Of Deracialization, Steven A. Ramirez, Neil G. Williams

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Excavating Race-Based Disadvantage Among Class-Privileged People Of Color, Khiara Bridges

Faculty Scholarship

The aim of this article is to begin to theorize the fraught space within which class-privileged racial minorities exist — the disadvantage within their privilege. The article posits that the invisibility of the racial subordination of wealthier people of color (that is, their marginalization on account of their race) is fertile soil for the germination of post-racialism — the sense that we, as a nation, have overcome our racial problems. The dramatic visibility of the minority poor’s suffering, combined with the relative invisibility of the suffering of those minorities who are not poor, breeds the belief that class is now …

The Audacity Of Protecting Racist Speech Under The National Labor Relations Act, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

This Article, written for a symposium hosted by the University of Chicago Legal Forum on the Disruptive Workplace, analyzes the most recent failures of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine a thoughtful and balanced approach in addressing racist speech. Imagine two employees in the private sector workplace are discussing the possibility of selecting a union to represent their interests regarding wages and working conditions. During this conversation, a black employee notes the importance of using their collective voices to improve working conditions and compares the activity of selecting a union with the Black Lives Matter protests aimed at …

Racism, Juries, And Justice: Addressing Post-Verdict Juror Testimony Of Racial Prejudice During Deliberations, Andrew C. Helman

Maine Law Review

From the beginning, race played a role in the prosecution of Christopher McCowen for the rape and murder of well-known fashion writer Christa Worthington. To some, the trial was even a spectacle and treated as “one of the most spectacular homicide cases in [Massachusetts'] history.” It quickly became a “made-for-cable-news tale of the heiress fashion writer and her lowly Portuguese fisherman lover, illicit sex, and an out-of-wedlock child,” all set in a seaside village. McCowen, an African-American garbage man, was right in the middle of it; police and prosecutors did not believe his assertions that he had consensual sex with …

Open Source: The Enewsletter Of Rwu Law 09-22-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: The Violence In Charlottesville 08-14-2017, Michael J. Yelnosky

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

We Know Better: Shed Image Of Racist, Bigoted Community, Christia Spears Brown

Center for Equality and Social Justice Position Papers

Following Mayor Jim Gray’s announcement about relocating the Confederate statues at Cheapside, Lexington received the attention of national news organizations, and the attention of several racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic hate groups.

The New Public Accommodations: Race Discrimination In The Platform Economy, Nancy Leong, Aaron Belzer

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The platform economy raises important new questions about public accommodation laws. Such laws originally were enacted to prohibit establishments open to the public-for example, hotels, restaurants, taxi services, and retail businesses-from discriminating on the basis of characteristics such as race, color, religion, and national origin. Platform economy businesses are functional substitutes for these traditional public accommodations. Yet existing public accommodation laws are not always a good fit for the unique features of the platform economy.

This Article is the first to argue that public accommodation laws must evolve to address race discrimination in the platform economy. Available evidence suggests that, …

It Can't Wait: Exposing The Connections Between Forms Of Sexual Exploitation, Dawn Hawkins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The Unconstitutional Application Of Apprehension And Detention Laws: Section 236(C) Of The Immigration And Nationality Act, Rigoberto Ledesma

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

The Negative Ramifications Of Hate Crime Legislation: It’S Time To Reevaluate Whether Hate Crime Laws Are Beneficial To Society, Briana Alongi

Pace Law Review

Supporters of hate crime legislation suggest that the primary reason for the codification of hate crime laws is “to send a strong message of tolerance and equality, signaling to all members of society that hatred and prejudice on the basis of identity will be punished with extra severity.” However, hate crime laws may actually be accomplishing the opposite effect of tolerance and equality because they encourage U.S. citizens to view themselves, not as members of our society, but as members of a protected group. The enactment of hate crime legislation at the federal and state levels has led to unintended …

Concealed Motives: Rethinking Fourteenth Amendment And Voting Rights Challenges To Felon Disenfranchisement, Lauren Latterell Powell

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Felon disenfranchisement provisions are justified by many Americans under the principle that voting is a privilege to be enjoyed only by upstanding citizens. The provisions are intimately tied, however, to the country’s legacy of racism and systemic disenfranchisement and are at odds with the values of American democracy. In virtually every state, felon disenfranchisement provisions affect the poor and communities of color on a grossly disproportionate scale. Yet to date, most challenges to the provisions under the Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act have been unsuccessful, frustrating proponents of re-enfranchisement and the disenfranchised alike.

In light of those failures, …

Missouri*@!!?*@! - Too Slow, Mae Quinn

Journal Articles

When asked to share my thoughts at this symposium about contemporary human rights issues in domestic criminal law—and how they manifest in St. Louis, Missouri in particular—I could not help but think of these words. Nina Simone, the brilliant vocal artist and civil rights activist, wrote these lyrics over fifty years ago and then bravely and controversially sang them for a mostly-white audience at New York City’s Carnegie Hall following the 1963 shooting death of Medgar Evers.2 Evers was a military veteran who turned civil rights activist and organizer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (“NAACP”) …

Native Youth & Juvenile Injustice In South Dakota, Addie C. Rolnick

Scholarly Works

In this essay, Professor Rolnick uses the three themes of racism, jurisdiction, and tribal sovereignty to provide a snapshot of the juvenile justice system in South Dakota as it impacts Native youth. First, she describes the tribal juvenile justice systems in the state. She argues tribal systems should rightfully play a central role handling Native youth offenders, but they are underfunded and may not therefore be sufficiently responsive to young offenders' needs. Second, she examines the impact of federal power over youth on reservations in South Dakota. Specifically, federal juvenile jurisdiction, as well as federal financial and administrative power, can …

Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing The Trope Of The Angry Black Woman, Kimberly Jade Norwood, Trina Jones

Scholarship@WashULaw

Black women in the United States are the frequent targets of bias-filled interactions in which aggressors: (1) denigrate Black women; and (2) blame those women who elect to challenge the aggressor’s acts and the bias that fuels them. This Article seeks to raise awareness of these “aggressive encounters” and to challenge a prevailing narrative about Black women and anger. It examines the myriad circumstances (both professional and social) in which aggressive encounters occur and the ways in which these encounters expose gender and racial hierarchies. It then explores how the intersectional nature of Black women’s identities triggers a particularized stereotype …

Racism Didn't Stop At Jim Crow, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Reviews

Nearly 50 years ago, the Kerner Commission famously declared that “[o]ur nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” The picture has changed distressingly little since then. In the 1950 Census, the average African American in a metropolitan area lived in a neighborhood that was 35 percent white—the same figure as in the 2010 Census. In 2010, the average white American still lived in a neighborhood that was more than 75 percent white. America’s largest metropolitan areas—particularly, but not exclusively, in the North—continue to score high on many common measures of racial segregation. And racial segregation …

Identity Entrepreneurs, Nancy Leong

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

In my previous article, Racial Capitalism, I examined the ways in which white individuals and predominantly white institutions derive value from non-white racial identity. This process of deriving value from identity results from intense social and legal preoccupation with diversity. And it results in the commodification of nonwhite racial identity, with negative implications for both individuals and society.

This Article builds on Racial Capitalism in three ways. First, as a foundation, it expands the concept of racial capitalism to identity categories more generally, explaining that individual in-group members and predominantly in-group institutions—usually individuals or institutions that are white, male, straight, …

Pulse: Finding Meaning In A Massacre Through Gay Latinx Intersectional Justice, Judith E. Koons

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Title Vii At 50: The Landmark Law Has Significantly Impacted Relationships In The Workplace And Society, But Title Vii Has Not Reached Its True Potential, Cynthia Elaine Tompkins

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article’s historical chronicle provides a valuable backdrop for an examination of Title VII. Part II analyzes Title VII’s impact on race relations in the workplace and society. While progress has been made in the effort to provide equal opportunities for all workplace employees, Title VII legislation has not eliminated employment discrimination. As Title VII marches toward its sixtieth anniversary, this Article’s final section, Part III, reviews unconscious bias and other current challenges preventing Title VII from reaching its true potential.

Debunking Unequal Burdens, Trivial Violations, Harmless Stereotypes, And Similar Judicial Myths: The Convergence Of Title Vii Literalism, Congressional Intent, And Kantian Dignity Theory, Peter Brandon Bayer

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

The line of argument is not complex. Part I explicates the unequal burden doctrine and its link to the predecessor theory of “mutable characteristics.” Part II offers the aforementioned statutorily formal argument, disproving unequal burden theory through an examination of Title VII’s plain language and structure in light of modern Supreme Court precedents addressing Title VII’s ban against stereotyping. This analysis places special emphasis on 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m), in which Congress clarified that plaintiffs prevail when discriminatory animus merely is a “motivating factor” rather than the “but-for cause” of the defendants’ conduct.

Although not the lengthiest discussion herein …

America Is Slowly Awakening To The Structural Unfairness In Our Criminal Justice System, Mary Kelly Tate

Law Faculty Publications

Review of Bryan Stevenson's book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, published by Spiegal & Grau in 2014.

Australians' "Right" To Be Bigoted: Protecting Minorities' Rights From The Tyranny Of The Majority, Jillian Rudge

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) is a federal statute prohibiting behavior that offends, insults, humiliates, or intimidates people based on their race, nationality, ethnicity, or immigration status. It appropriately limits the right to freedom of expression where the exercise of that right encroaches on other, equally fundamental rights to equality and freedom from discrimination. The RDA is one of Australia’s few human rights laws focused on fighting racism. It is especially important for protecting the rights of minorities since Australia lacks a constitutional or federal bill of rights. Unfortunately, in 2014 and 2015, conservative politicians called for a repulsion of …