racial

5Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Where Racial Disparities Are Shrinking Fast … In Prisons

A big decrease in the incarceration rate of Black adults may lead to parity in the near future. By Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz is the former creative director at YES!, where she directed artistic and visual components of YES! Magazine, and drove branding across the organization for nearly 15 years. She specializes in infographic research and design, and currently works with The Nation, in addition to YES! She previously worked at The Seattle Times, The Virginian-Pilot, Scripps Howard Newspapers, Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post, The Connecticut Post, The San Diego Tribune, The Honolulu Advertiser. She lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and currently serves on the board of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Associat...

Research Links Microaggressions With Racial Bias – They Aren’t Just Innocent Blunders

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Research Links Microaggressions With Racial Bias – They Aren’t Just Innocent Blunders

A white man shares publicly that a group of Black Harvard graduates “look like gang members to me” and claims he would have said the same of white people dressed similarly. A white physician mistakes a Black physician for a janitor and says it was an honest mistake. A white woman asks to touch a Black classmate’s hair, is scolded for doing so and sulks, “I was just curious.” It’s a pattern that recurs countless times, in myriad interactions and contexts, across American society. A white person says something that is experienced as racially biased, is called on it and reacts defensively. These comments and other such subtle snubs, insults and offenses are known as microaggressions. The concept, introduced in the 1970s by Black psychiatrist Chester Pierce, is now the focus of a fierce deba...

How Do We Undo The Deep Roots Of the Racial Wealth Gap

19May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

How Do We Undo The Deep Roots Of the Racial Wealth Gap

In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Black American wealth remains a fraction of that held by White Americans. Just after emancipation in 1865, African Americans owned 0.5% of national wealth. By 2019, that percentage had not risen above 2%. An analysis by the Brookings Institution found that the median wealth of White families stood at $188,200 while the median wealth of Black families was a mere $24,100. What’s worse is that this chasm has continued to grow. Between 1983 and 2016, adjusting for inflation, median White wealth increased by 33%, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. The median Black family, in contrast, saw their wealth decrease by more than half during that period. The pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. While closing this divide is...

More Mass Shootings Are Happening At Grocery Stores – Criminologists Find 13% Are Motivated By Racial Hatred

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

More Mass Shootings Are Happening At Grocery Stores – Criminologists Find 13% Are Motivated By Racial Hatred

An apparently racially motivated attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, resulted in 10 deaths on May 14, 2022, with the teenage suspect allegedly targeting Black shoppers in a prominently African American neighborhood. Mass public shootings in which four or more people are killed have become more frequent, and deadly, in the last decade. And the tragedy in Buffalo is the latest in a recent trend of mass public shootings taking place in retail establishments. We are criminologists who study the life histories of public mass shooters in the United States. Since 2017, we have conducted dozens of interviews with incarcerated perpetrators and people who knew them. We also built a comprehensive database of mass public shootings using public data, with the shooters coded on over 200 di...

How People Understand Racial Inequality Shaped By Black Lives Matter Protests

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

How People Understand Racial Inequality Shaped By Black Lives Matter Protests

Considered to be the largest social justice movement since the civil rights era of the 1960s, Black Lives Matter is more than the scores of street protests organized by the social justice group that attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the world. From its early days in 2014 after Officer Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown, Jr. to the protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Black Lives Matter has opened the door for social change by expanding the way we think about the complicated issues that involve race. As sociologists who study how protests lay the groundwork for social change, we understand their necessity as a tactic to draw attention toward a movement’s broader agenda. In our study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...

MLK Jr. Had A More Radical Message Than A Dream Of Racial Brotherhood

17Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Religion

MLK Jr. Had A More Radical Message Than A Dream Of Racial Brotherhood

Martin Luther King Jr. has come to be revered as a hero who led a nonviolent struggle to reform and redeem the United States. His birthday is celebrated as a national holiday. Tributes are paid to him on his death anniversary each April, and his legacy is honored in multiple ways. But from my perspective as a historian of religion and civil rights, the true radicalism of his thought remains underappreciated. The “civil saint” portrayed nowadays was, by the end of his life, a social and economic radical, who argued forcefully for the necessity of economic justice in the pursuit of racial equality. Three particular works from 1957 to 1967 illustrate how King’s political thought evolved from a hopeful reformer to a radical critic. King’s support for white moderates For much of the 1950s, Ki...

There Are Ways To Change Racial And Ethnic Diversity Lacking Among Nonprofit Leaders

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

There Are Ways To Change Racial And Ethnic Diversity Lacking Among Nonprofit Leaders

About 87% of nonprofit CEOs in the U.S. were white in 2019, down from 90% in 2016. Similarly, roughly 78% of nonprofit board members were white in 2019, down from 84% in 2016, according to Board Source, a nonprofit that tracks this information. In a country where Black and Latino individuals and other people of color make up about 40% of the population, this lack of diversity among nonprofit leaders could interfere with both the work that nonprofits do and their influence in the communities they serve, for several reasons. Constraints caused when diversity is lacking According to Board Source’s most recent data, just 6% of nonprofit board chairs identified as Black, 5% as Latino and 2% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Only 5% of nonprofit CEOs were Black, 3% Hispanic and 2% Asian or Pacifi...

Suicidal Thoughts In Black Adults And Children Linked To Racial Discrimination

5Apr

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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Suicidal Thoughts In Black Adults And Children Linked To Racial Discrimination

Janelle R. Goodwill, University of Chicago Frederick Douglass is regarded as one of the most prominent abolitionists the world has ever seen. Alongside his extraordinary contributions as an influential speaker, writer and human rights advocate, Douglass – who was born into slavery and gained freedom in September 1838 – also wrote openly about his struggles with suicidal thoughts. Douglass’ writings are both revolutionary and transformative, particularly when considering that he lived during a time when several anti-literacy laws prevented enslaved Black persons from learning to read and write. Douglass published his first autobiography – “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” – in 1845. In it, he boldly shared, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself...

The Fed Doesn’t Have The Right Tools To Fix Huge Racial Income And Wealth Gaps

15Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

The Fed Doesn’t Have The Right Tools To Fix Huge Racial Income And Wealth Gaps

BUSINESS Paul Wachtel, New York University Central bankers and economists from around the world are convening remotely for the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Aug. 27, 2021, to discuss the future of monetary policy. For the second year in a row, the annual conference will be virtual and the theme – Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy – seems appropriate given that the road out of the pandemic recession has been bumpy, with Black Americans lagging behind. Indeed, how central banks should address racial inequities in the distribution of wealth and income is a likely topic for discussion at the virtual retreat and could get a mention in Fed chair Jerome Powell’s highly anticipated speech. A ‘critical role to play’? It certainly is an issue that needs attention. Despite the vast cha...

Not The Groups You Might Think But Racial Groups Suffer Disparate Consequences After Unfair Police Treatment

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Not The Groups You Might Think But Racial Groups Suffer Disparate Consequences After Unfair Police Treatment

George Floyd’s high-profile death has become synonymous with unfair police treatment. His death has sparked discussions surrounding police reform and the long-term consequences for people who experience violent contact with police. But what does research say more generally about unfair treatment by police? One of the biggest questions that researchers like my colleague and I examine is whether different groups of individuals – young people, racial and ethnic minorities and those from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds – are more likely than their respective counterparts to report police treatment that they perceive to be unfair. We focus on perceptions of police interaction because research has long contended that “citizens’ perceptions of police stops may be considered just as important...