Saturday, November 2

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Other Less Visible Biases Threaten Democracy — Not The Political Bias In The Media
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SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

Other Less Visible Biases Threaten Democracy — Not The Political Bias In The Media

Charges of media bias – that “the media” are trying to brainwash Americans by feeding the public only one side of every issue – have become as common as the hope that the presidential race will end safely … and soon. As a political scientist who has examined media coverage of the Trump presidency and campaigns, I can say that this is what social science research tells us about media bias. First, media bias is in the eye of the beholder. Communications scholars have found that if you ask people in any community, using scientific polling methods, whether their local media are biased, you’ll find that about half say yes. But of that half, typically a little more than a quarter say that their local media are biased against Republicans, and a little less than a quarter say the same local med...
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Gifted And Talented Black, Latino Or Native American Students Are Often Overlooked In Schools
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Gifted And Talented Black, Latino Or Native American Students Are Often Overlooked In Schools

About a decade ago, I was working with a large, urban school district on creating a gifted and talented program that would include all kids, regardless of their race or income. In this district, Black children and children from poor families were rarely identified for gifted education services. These services include enrichment, special classes and focused projects intended to help students excel in areas in which they show signs of exceptional potential and talents. I visited one school, near a prestigious university in an upscale neighborhood, where 48% of all students received services for gifted and talented students. There, about 50% were white, 22% Black and 12% Asian. Few were being raised in low-income families. At another school I visited a short 10-minute drive away, no student...
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The Connection Between White Nationalism And The Military
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Connection Between White Nationalism And The Military

White nationalist groups, who make up some of the most serious terror threats in the country, find new members and support in the U.S. military. These groups believe that white people are under attack in America. In their effort to create an all-white country where nonwhites do not have civil rights protections, these groups often instigate violent confrontations that target racial and religious minorities. Since 2018, white supremacists have conducted more lethal attacks in the United States than any other domestic extremist movement. The Proud Boys group, for example, whom President Donald Trump addressed in the first presidential debate of 2020, includes veterans and active duty service members. The group’s members, who are required to engage in physical violence before joining, celeb...
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Four Trends Of The Boom In Racial Justice Giving
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Four Trends Of The Boom In Racial Justice Giving

The tragic, high-profile killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020 have sparked a reckoning on race. As researchers of philanthropy, we’re keeping an eye on how this national awakening is affecting charitable giving across the nation. We are seeing an outpouring of donations from individuals, corporations and foundations that began to grow as soon as protests and other activities in support of racial and social justice started to spread across the country. Much of this funding will likely support Black-led groups engaged in criminal justice reform and fighting for education equality. Wealthy donors in the first half of the year gave nearly US$6 billion in donations of $1 million or more, but people of at various income and wealth levels are also increasingly supporting r...
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How even a casual brush with the law can permanently mar a young man’s life – especially if he’s Black
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How even a casual brush with the law can permanently mar a young man’s life – especially if he’s Black

George Floyd’s death highlighted how even a minor alleged infraction – in his case, over a fake $20 bill – can lead to a fatal interaction with law enforcement. As a result, a coalition of advocacy organizations, criminal justice reform advocates and everyday citizens have called for cities to take a wide range of actions to reduce the power and authority of local police departments. But loss of life isn’t the only potential consequence of a brush with the law. Even a single arrest, without conviction, can be devastating to the rest of a young man’s life – especially if he’s Black – particularly in terms of employment and earnings. And African American men are much more likely to get arrested than their white counterparts. My own recent research has been exploring what employers can do ...
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Kids’ perceptions of police fall as they age – for Black children the decline starts earlier and is constant
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Kids’ perceptions of police fall as they age – for Black children the decline starts earlier and is constant

The deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and most recently Dijon Kizzee at the hands of officers come in an age when overpolicing and underserving minority communities has, as some experts believe, resulted in a “legitimacy crisis” in American policing. The reality is that these events are also impacting children. Youth today are growing up in what has been described as an “era of mistrust” of police. Across racial and ethnic groups, youths’ perceptions of police have dropped in recent years to a decades-long low. Yet, the amount of the decline differs across demographic groups. In fact, Black youth report the most dramatic declines, and the gap between their perceptions and white youths’ perceptions has been increasing. As scholars of policing and the criminal justice system, we stud...
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A New Supreme Court Nominee Before the Election May Spark a Crisis of Legitimacy
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

A New Supreme Court Nominee Before the Election May Spark a Crisis of Legitimacy

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just turned the already frenetic 2020 election into a tornado. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell waited barely two hours before announcing that “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” And a number of Democratic senators have been almost as quick to denounce that move, especially given McConnell’s refusal to grant a hearing to Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, a full eleven months before the end of Obama’s second term. The politics of it all are fluid at the moment, and nearly impossible to predict. Most Republican senators seem gung-ho to fill the seat, but there is also some dissent, with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski issuing a statement that there should be no vot...
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American society teaches everyone to be racist – but you can rewrite subconscious stereotypes
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

American society teaches everyone to be racist – but you can rewrite subconscious stereotypes

Progress toward a more just and equitable society may be on the horizon. Since the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in May, around the United States, millions of people have taken to the streets, statues have been felled, leaders have been fired and pressured to resign, and activists-turned-politicians have gained traction in prominent political races. But until people recognize that racism is wired into the American mind, we believe that few of these efforts are likely to actually reduce racist behavior. Our work provides a way to understand how race and society influence the brain. One of us (Waddell) is a sociologist who researches social inequality; the other (Pipitone) is a psychologist who examines the biological implications of human behavior. Our respective work...
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#DefundPolice What Can Do For Public Safety
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

#DefundPolice What Can Do For Public Safety

Cities imagine taking away resources from racist, oppressive policing and putting it toward public safety and social services. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the nation is no closer to eradicating the violence Black people have experienced at the hands of the police. National efforts to track use of force by police officers have come up short. But something has changed. Floyd’s death strengthened the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, founded in 2013 after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, for killing Trayvon Martin. The cofounders of BLM had grown tired of seeing Black people killed with impunity. Now, protesters across the country, and across the world, have taken up their message. They’re calling for a divestment from polici...
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Presidents have a long history of condescension, indifference and outright racism towards Black Americans
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POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Presidents have a long history of condescension, indifference and outright racism towards Black Americans

The fury over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history. That’s unfamiliar territory for most Americans, whose historical knowledge amounts to a vague blend of fact and myth that was only half-learned in high school and is only half-remembered now. If their historical knowledge is lacking, Americans are not any better informed about the role of presidential leadership – and lack of leadership – on racial issues. They may have heard that five of the first seven presidents owned slaves, and they know – or think they do – that Abraham Lincoln “freed the slaves.” But even those tidbits of fact are incomplete. Several other presidents, including Ulysses Grant, owned slaves. And Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation wa...
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