Race Rights and the Law Blog
Sahar Aziz
September 20, 2015
For those following the legal developments of equal protection doctrine in the courts, Race and the Law in the Genomic Age: A Problem for Equal Treatment Under the Law by Professors Robin Bradley Kar and John Lindo may be of interest. The abstract to the paper is pasted below.
"This is the “Age of Genomics”, and yet people who study race and the law often resist integrating biological insights…
Atiba Ellis
September 17, 2015
On this Constitution Day, I have been drawn to thinking about violence against minorities in America and how our constitutional system fails to address this violence. We have seen numerous episodes of individual and community violence against neighborhoods of color from Ferguson to Baltimore. We are familiar with the long list of individuals who have died at the hands of the police under…
September 17, 2015
In 2012, nearly three-quarters of Asian-American voters went for President Obama. But, rewind — 20 years prior — and you'll find fewer than a third voted Democrat.
via www.npr.org
Asian American racial identity, is, of course, more fluid and less discrete than for some other groups. Many Asian Americans are constantly flirting with trying to downplay or discard racial identity altogether. But so…
Sahar Aziz
September 16, 2015
The case of Ahmed Mohamed begs the question: why do so many Americans believe the United States is post-racial? Post-racialism means the interrogation, arrest, and suspension of a 14 year old Sudanese American Muslim boy for building a clock that his teacher believed was a bomb was merely a mistake, a good faith error, or an anomaly. In a post-racial America, Ahmed’s race, national origin,…
September 15, 2015
After Yi-Fen Chou: A Forum
19 writers respond to Michael Derrick Hudson’s yellowface
Michael Derrick Hudson pretended to be an Asian poet, and submitted his work under the name Yi-Fen Chou. One of his poems was included in The Best American Poetry 2015.
via aaww.org
Early last week, news broke that Yi-Fen Chou, whose poem is included in The Best American Poetry 2015, is not a Chinese poet,…
Sahar Aziz
September 14, 2015
“Diversity talk” is all around us – in schools, workplaces, and businesses. Everyone seems to want to “be diverse” but few people seem to agree what that means precisely. Does diversity mean two of every “other” that is not a member of the dominant group? Does it apply only to immutable characteristics such as race, gender, or ethnicity? Or is diversity expansively defined to include…
September 14, 2015
Counter-violent extremism (CVE) is the government’s new model, and strategy, for policing communities linked to national security and terrorist threat. Since its inception, CVE resources and programming have disparately targeted Muslim American communities. Although Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics – the agency that coordinates CVE policing – found that 94% of terrorist…
September 8, 2015
The Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA has really become a leading institution in the study of race. This year's symposium, Race and Resistance: Against Police Violence, looks fabulous.
September 8, 2015
Indulge me in some pride about my father, Ford Lee. This article describes his lifelong devotion to the Chinatown YMCA in San Francisco. The article was written some time ago, but he continues to spend time supporting and encouraging Chinatown kids. This last summer, at the age of 83, he traveled up to the Sierras again to sleep in a sleeping bag and cook for the kids at summer Y camp.
I also…