Category: Law

  • The weird, strange narrative of Rachel Dolezal The Remix WHYY-FM Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2015-06-17 James Peterson, Host What determines your race? Is it about genetics or cultural identification? The curious case of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman who has been passing for black, has been met with surprise, outrage and confusion. Dolezal, former president of the Spokane…

  • Race is a social fiction imposed by the powerful on those they wish to control.

  • How a long-dead white supremacist still threatens the future of Virginia’s Indian tribes The Washington Post 2015-07-01 Joe Heim, Staff Writer Walter A. Plecker’s goal as Virginia’s registrar of vital statistics was to ban race-mixing. He declared there were no true Indians left because of marriages with blacks. (Richmond Times-Dispatch) Virginia’s Indian tribes have faced…

  • An open letter to President Obama: This is a moral emergency Jewish Journal 2015-06-19 Todd Samuel Presner, Professor and Director, Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies University of California, Los Angeles Dear President Barack Obama, I appreciate your comments on the “heartache and the sadness and the anger” that many Americans are feeling after…

  • From Ferguson to Charleston and Beyond, Anguish About Race Keeps Building The New York Times 2015-06-20 Lydia Polgreen, Johannesburg Bureau Chief Ferguson. Baltimore. Staten Island. North Charleston. Cleveland. Over the past year in each of these American cities, an unarmed black male has died at the hands of a police officer, unleashing a torrent of…

  • Emil Guillermo: Rachel Dolezal, Dylann Roof, and Father’s Day Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund 2015-06-20 Emil Guillermo Rachel Dolezal nearly wrecked everyone’s Father’s Day. You don’t often see a daughter outed so publicly by her white father for passing as an African American, but I guess post-racial filial love isn’t necessarily unconditional. I…

  • How Fluid Is Racial Identity? Room for Debate The New York Times 2015-06-17 Heidi W. Durrow, Novelist Amanda Kay Erekson, President MAVIN Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law University of Iowa Nancy Leong, Associate Professor of Law University of Denver Mark Hugo Lopez, Director of Hispanic Research Pew Research Center…

  • Rachel Dolezal’s Harmful Masquerade The New York Times 2015-06-16 Tamara Winfrey Harris Rachel A. Dolezal, who stepped down Monday as president of the Spokane, Wash., chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., could have been a powerful ally to African-Americans. The participation of white allies has always been important to anti-racism work. By most accounts, she is educated…

  • Rachel Dolezal’s ‘Passing’ Isn’t So Unusual The New York Times Magazine 2015-06-15 Daniel J. Sharfstein, Professor of Law Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennesee Daniel J. Sharfstein is the author of “The Invisible Line: A Secret History of Race in America.” Why do we care so much about Rachel Dolezal, the head of the Spokane, Wash., chapter…

  • Mark Duggan’s family lead call for a public inquiry into UK policing The Guardian 2015-06-07 Damien Gayle, Live Desk Reporter Carole Duggan, Duggan’s aunt, said her family had ‘ample evidence’ that police had misled an inquest into his death. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/the Guardian Campaigners say there are deep problems with Operation Trident, which investigates gun…