Law and Race Commons^™

Exploring The Mysteries: Can We Ever Know Anything About Race And Tax?, Beverly I. Moran

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The politics behind tax legislation are explored in order to demonstrate that, rather than being surprising or unexpected, it is easily predictable that federal tax laws would favor whites over blacks.

African-Americans, Latinos, And The Construction Of Race: Toward An Epistemic Coalition, George A. Martinez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Latinos will soon become the largest minority group in the United States. African-Americans may therefore be about to give up political clout to Latinos. This prospect has generated tension between African-Americans and Latinos. Given this background, it is important for Critical Race Theory and Latino Critical Theory to consider the matter of the African-American/Latino relationship. With this in mind, the author discusses two important questions posed by the organizers of this panel: (1) How is the relationship between African-Americans and Latinos affected by the construction of race? and (2) Can Critical Race Theory benefit by a consideration of the race …

Note, Moving Ground, Breaking Traditions: Tasha’S Chronicle, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

This Note uses a fictional dialogue to analyze and engage issues concerning stereotypes, stigmas, and affirmative action. It also highlights the importance of role models for students of color and the disparate hiring practices of law firms and legal employers through the conversations and thoughts of its main character, Tasha Crenshaw.

Race, Cops, And Traffic Stops, Angela J. Davis

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article discusses the Supreme Court's failure to provide a clear and effective remedy for discriminatory pretextual traffic stops. The first part explores the discretionary nature of pretextual stops and their discriminatory effect on African-Americans and Latinos. Then, the article examines Whren v. United States, a Supreme Court case in which the petitioners claimed that these “pretextual stops” violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and are racially discriminatory. The Supreme Court rejected the claim, upholding the constitutionality of pretextual stops based on probable cause and noting that claims of racial discrimination must be challenged under the Equal Protection Clause. …

Latcrit Praxis To Heal Fractured Communities, Laura M. Padilla

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay explores LatCrit praxis as a healing tool. Before turning to LatCrit practice, let me offer a preliminary observation that many Latinos are troubled by leading divided lives in fractured communities. This is exacerbated by social conditioning which encourages Latinos, as well as other outsiders, to fragment their identities. One of the benefits of LatCrit theory is that it encourages the process of working toward wholeness. At a recent conference which looked at the courage of those who have decided to live lives divided no more, Parker Palmer, the plenary speaker, suggested that the spark which causes people to …

Intersectionality And Positionality: Situating Women Of Color In The Affirmative Action Dialogue, Laura M. Padilla

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the position of women of color in the affirmative action dialogue. Affirmative action has come under attack locally, statewide, and federally. During this same period, critical race feminists have brought into sharp relief how women of color are marginalized or erased in discourses over sex and gender, as well as over race and ethnicity. Despite these protests and warnings, the current debate over affirmative action continues this history of invisibility, perpetuating America's spoken and unspoken conceptions about where women of color belong. For example, most discussion of affirmative action focuses on race, more specifically on African-Americans. Some …

The Diversity Among Us, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

It is really a pleasure to be here today and I think we owe great thanks to Western New England College School of Law for hosting this historic First Annual Northeastern People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference. I think there are two people who deserve special mention and to whom a great deal of thanks are in order. First, I would like to thank Dean Mahoney of Western New England College School of Law who made this conference possible. These events just do not happen without administrative and, more specifically, deaconal support. Her role and support are invaluable. The other …

Two Parents Are Better Than None: Whether Two Single, African American Adults--Who Are Not In A Traditional Marriage Or A Romantic Or Sexual Relationship With Each Other--Should Be Allowed To Jointly Adopt And Co-Parent African American Children, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

This article proposes an additional adoption model to allow joint adoption and co-parenting by single African Americans who are not in a traditional marriage relationship with each other and not in a romantic or sexual relationship with each other. Under this model, for example, two friends, two sisters, two brothers, a sister and a brother, etc., could jointly adopt and co-parent a child. If some new model such as this one is not devised, many single blacks may hesitate to take on the entire adoption responsibility alone. As a result, many black children will continue to go without any parents. …

Representing Black Male Innocence, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

This Article is a case study of a California capital case. Drawing on cultural studies, the first part develops the social construction of Black male gang member, especially as that identity is understood within white imaginations. The powerful and frightening idea of a Black man who is a gang member, even gang leader, captured the imagination and moral passion of the decisionmakers in this case, recasting and reframing the evidence in furtherance of this idea. In fundamental ways, this idea or imposed identity is fundamentally inconsistent with any American concept of innocence.

The second part uses the case to investigate …

Race And Criminal Justice, Richard B. Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Race And Place: Geographic And Transcendent Community In The Post-"Shaw" Era, Lisa A. Kelly

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the Preface to Colored People, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., describes and explains for his daughter, Liza, communities characterized by race. Throughout his memoir, Professor Gates re- creates communities local and communities transcendent. In one passage, he insists that he is "from and of a time and place-Piedmont, West Virginia... slathered along the ridge of 'Old Baldie' mountain like butter on the jagged side of a Parker House roll." The geography of place, even within the small town of Piedmont, is central. Italian neighborhoods in the west, Irish neighborhoods up on "Arch Hill," wealthy white neighborhoods defined by the block …

Review Essay: Interrogating Identity, Mary I. Coombs

Articles

No abstract provided.

Crime And Punishment: Benign Neglect Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System, Angela J. Davis

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article is a literary review and analysis of Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America by Michael Tonry (1995). Part I of this review describes Tonry's analysis of the crime policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Part II discusses Tonry's indictment of the War on Drugs and criticizes his failure to acknowledge the effects of discriminatory prosecutorial practices and sentencing laws. Part III critiques Tonry's trivialization of the significance of race discrimination in the criminal justice system more generally. Part IV summarizes Tonry's proposals for change and stresses the importance of documenting, examining, and eliminating racial bias …

Race-Ing Legal Ethics, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

When Judges Are Gatekeepers: Democracy, Morality, Status, And Empathy In Duty Decisions (Help From Ordinary Citizens), Cheryl L. Wade

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Imagine that you are eighteen and you have just graduated from high school. Even though you have no cognitive disability and have spent twelve years of your life attending public schools, you are functionally illiterate. If your predicament was caused by negligent educators, your action for educational malpractice would be called a "failure to educate" case and it would be denied.

Or, imagine that you enter a public school kindergarten class and you are examined by the school's psychologist. On the basis of a verbal intelligence test, the psychologist concludes that you are mentally retarded. In reality, you have …

Because I Am Black, Because I Am Woman: Remedying The Sexual Harassment Experience Of Black Women, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

This Note examines the intersection of race and gender in the context of sexual harassment jurisprudence. Since the arrival in this country of the first female African slaves, Black women have experienced sexual harassment on the job. This Note discusses the failure of sexual harassment theory to acknowledge the unique sexual harassment experience of Black women. From the very earliest discussions of sexual harassment, the impact of the race of the victim on the experience and resulting legal claim was ignored. Feminist legal theorists, leaders in issues affecting women, have been slow to acknowledge and integrate the role of race …

The Elephant And The Four Blind Men: The Burger Court And Its Federal Tax Decisions, Beverly I. Moran, Daniel M. Schneider

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

All the federal tax decisions of the Burger Court are reviewed in order to demonstrate that widely held beliefs about statutory interpretation in tax cases are misleading. For example, although the literature asserts that courts do not distinguish between legislative and interpretive regulations, the Burger Court did give greater deference to legislative regulations. Further, despite some Justices antipathy to legislative history, the Burger Court relied heavily on legislative histories in making its decisions. In addition, the widely held view that the Court eschews tax controversies was found false when compared to other business areas.

A Black Critique Of The Internal Revenue Code, Beverly I. Moran, William Whitford

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Using Census data and the Survey of Income Program participation (SIPP), the authors use social science methodology to show that blacks pay more federal income tax than whites at the same income levels.

Introduction: O.J. Simpson And The Criminal Justice System On Trial, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Color Of Money, Paul F. Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

We Can't Go On Together With Suspicious Minds: Judicial Bias And Racialized Perspective In R. V. R.D.S., Richard F. Devlin

Dalhousie Law Journal

In recent years it has been recognized that the Canadian judiciary has been drawn from only a relatively small cross section of the community, specifically privileged white males. As a result there have been calls for, and some action in pursuit of, appointment processes that are designed to diversify the bench in order to render it more inclusive. Gender and race are the two primary categories that are invoked as the benchmarks of diversity. While it would appear that numerically there seems to be some very modest progress towards the goal of achieving a more inclusive judiciary, significant qualitative, institutional …

Race And National Origin As Influential Factors In Juvenile Detention, Arthur L. Burnett Sr.

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The focus of this Article, however, is on the more pervasive problem of overzealous police officers acting on less than probable cause or even less than reasonable articulable suspicion. Police officers may frequently act on hunches or suspicions with the attitude that their actions will not be questioned, especially when the victim is a minor and may not be savvy enough to know his or her legal rights. Officers may believe they can act with impunity because of the combination of socio-economic conditions in public housing areas and in other low-income housing areas, or where there are a substantial number …

The Ties That Bind: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of Gender, Ethnicity, And The Practice Of Law, Rosemary C. Salomone

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Over the past decade, fueled in part by Carol Gilligan's controversial book, In a Different Voice, both feminists and scholars of color have critically examined the law from the "outsiders'" perspective. Stretching methodological bounds, this interrelated body of scholarship has utilized narrative form to question the gender and racial implications of social practices and legal rules and to demonstrate the useful purpose that stories serve as a means of including marginalized groups in law's evolution and reform. Women scholars of color have carved out a particular role in this debate, criticizing feminism's categorical conceptualization of "woman." They have advanced …

Language And Silence: Making Systems Of Privilege Visible, Adrienne D. Davis, Stephanie M. Wildman

Scholarship@WashULaw

A colleague of mine once had a dream in which I appeared. My colleague, who is African-American, was struggling in this dream to be himself in the presence of a monolithic white maleness that wanted to oppress my friend and deny his intellect, his humanity, and his belonging in our community. In his dream, I, a white woman, attempted to speak on his behalf, but the white man and I spoke as if my friend were not there.

This portrayal disturbed me because I know my friend can speak for himself. Recognizing this fact, he described my discomfort at participating …

Queer Intersectionality And The Failure Of Recent Lesbian And Gay "Victories", Darren Rosenblum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Amidst the juridical heterosexism of our legal system, the few successful lesbian and gay cases stand out as brilliant, hopeful harbingers of the future. With good cause, lesbian and gay people have hailed state cases that indicate Bowers v. Hardwick has not contaminated all American courts. Although termed "victories" for the lesbian and gay community, several recent New York cases exclude many queer legal needs. Four cases, Braschi v. Stahl Assoc., In the Matter of the Adoption of Evan, M.A.B. v. R.B. and Thomas S. v. Robin Y., embody the law's progress on lesbian and gay issues. This essay …

Legal Indeterminacy, Judicial Discretion And The Mexican-American Litigation Experience: 1930-1980, George A. Martinez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article explores a jurisprudential point: legal indeterminacy in the context of Mexican-American civil rights litigation. The article argues that because of legal uncertainty or indeterminacy the resolution of key issues was not inevitable. Judges often had discretion to reach their conclusions. In this regard, the article concludes that the courts generally exercised their discretion by taking a position on key issues against Mexican-Americans. The article points out that exposing the exercise of judicial discretion and the lack of inevitability in civil rights cases is important for two major reasons. At one level, exposing the exercise of judicial discretion is …

Name-Calling And The Clear Error Rule, Robert F. Nagel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Darkness Made Visible: Law, Metaphor, And The Racial Self, D. Marvin Jones

Articles

No abstract provided.

Peremptory Challenges: Free Strikes No More, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

No abstract provided.

Justice For Rodney King, Scott C. Burrell, Alan R. Dial, Thomas W. Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

May 1992 letter from three Howard University School of Law students to President George H.W. Bush advocating that the United States Department of Justice invoke the Petite Policy to initiate a criminal action against the Los Angeles Police Department police officers responsible for brutally beating Rodney King despite the fact that these offers had been acquitted in a California state court. The letter, which was read in front of the White House by Thomas Mitchell to hundreds of people who had gathered to urge the federal government to take action, sets forth a clear legal basis to permit the Justice …